Our View-Afghan women called ‘whores’ for equality demands

Women are property. They should submit to their husbands’ carnal desires without question. When a wife tells her husband she doesn’t want to have sex, it should be legal for him to rape her. If the husband tells the wife to make herself up or dress in certain clothes, she must recognize her subservient duty and follow his commands.

They must have patriarchal permission to work outside of the home or to become educated. If any of the above is disobeyed, the woman should face swift discipline for her crimes, including public whipping and humiliation. The husband is the man, the figurehead, the one with the balls in the family and the reason cultures and societies survive.

Wow. Before you run to Daily Forty-Niner headquarters with a can of gas and a book of matches, realize this is part of a new Taliban-like law women in Afghanistan are being subjected to.

While most Americans worried about meeting tax deadlines last week, a group of approximately 300 Afghani women took to the streets of Kabul to protest the country’s government for allowing these human rights violations.

The women, mostly young and many wearing jeans, braved a mob more than three times their size demanding, “We want our rights!” and “We want equality!” on Tuesday, according The New York Times.

As the women marched, men shouted, “Get out of here, you whores!”

It would be horrendous enough if this were merely local cultural practices in tiny desert hamlets, but the law got the nod from both houses of Afghanistan’s Parliament and was signed by President Hamid Karzai.

Even more significantly, the law only applies to the Shiite minority, which constitutes approximately 20 percent of the country’s population. The dramatic protest started in front of the nation’s most powerful Shiite cleric’s madrasa, the School of the Last Prophet, The New York Times reported.

Many speculate that Karzai signed the law because he is up for re-election and needs the ecumenical support. Others fear that it could signal drafting a similar proposal legalizing violence against Sunni women.

While these restrictions haven’t been formal legal standards before now, they have been practiced largely in rural Afghani communities.

Facing widespread international human rights outcries, Karzai asked “his justice minister to look it over.” One spokesman said it’s not a law until it’s “published in the government’s official register.”

At the beginning of the civil disobedience, one woman shouted, “We are here to campaign for our rights,” through a megaphone. Hundreds of students charged out of the madrasa shouting, “Death to the enemies of Islam!” while pelting the women with stones, multiple news agencies reported.

Following the demonstration, one senior cleric said treatment of women should be left to those who understand “the [Quran] and Islamic law.” Of course, women aren’t allowed to interpret either the Quran or Islamic law.

If you earlier were pissed enough to set fire to the Daily Forty-Niner newsroom over the opening of this editorial, perhaps you’re angry enough to speak against this dominance. One advocacy group you could contact is Women for Afghan Women at womenforafghanwomen.org.

Speaking out against oppression, no matter where it exists, doesn’t require having male anatomical extensions.