Afghan women mark International Women's Day
Last Updated: Saturday, March 8, 2008 | 3:53 PM ET
CBC News
More than 1,000 women gathered at two events in Kandahar on Saturday to mark International Women's Day.
One after the other, women who had lost their sons, husbands and brothers to the fighting and suicide attacks in Afghanistan rose, wrapped in white scarves, to share their stories.
Sobbing, they called for peace and for women's rights. There are an estimated one million widows in Afghanistan, many under the age of 35, who face particular difficulty in society.
Without men to provide for them, they must use whatever meagre skills they have to eke out a living, but more than 85 per cent of the women in Afghanistan are illiterate.
Since 2001 and the fall of the Taliban, women are slowly rising back up through the ranks of Afghan society.
They sit in government, run hospitals and have regained the right to an education.
"This year is better than last year and the year before last year," said Dr. Farishta Bwar, who works in the department of public health. "Every day, the women's life becomes a little better."
But a chilling list of statistics enumerates the hardships still facing the estimated 11 million women in Afghanistan, about half the population.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission recorded 2,374 cases of violence against women in 2007, including 165 cases of women setting themselves on fire. But the commission concedes the number doesn't really reflect Afghan society because such violent incidents often go unreported.
According to the United Nations, one woman in Afghanistan dies every 29 minutes due to reproductive health-related complications.
Their average life expectancy is 44 years, about half that of a woman in Canada.
Though more than two million girls in Afghanistan are now registered for school, there are no numbers on how many actually attend class.
"There was a girl who was going to school and she was threatened and she left school altogether," said Foozia, 14, who still attends class at her school in Kandahar City where conditions are safe.
Foozia said she was at Saturday's rally because it's important to show support for the women of Afghanistan. "We want a peaceful Afghanistan where every woman will be able to ask for her rights," she said.
