Gender Roles

Historically, gender roles and women's status have been tied to property relations. In Afghanistan property includes livestock, land, and houses or tents. Women and children tend to be assimilated into the concept of property and to belong to a male. Islam enjoins believers to maintain as much difference as possible between the sexes; Muslims must not, for example, don clothing typically worn by members of the opposite sex. In Afghanistan the genders are not only differentiated but also separated through the veiling and seclusion of women. Scholars agree that the practice of seclusion rests on the conception of women as property and the belief, long current in the Middle East, of the inherent danger and irresistibility of sex. Women are thought to have less moral control and capability for physical restraint than men and therefore must be placed out of harm's way. The extent of seclusion varies by ethnic group, region, mode of subsistence, social class, and family. Unfortunately, few accounts of how and to what degree women veil exist. Among Ghilzai, women veil or are secluded from men to whom they could be married. Men also avoid women who stand in the relationship of potential mate to them.

Male Afghans often view women as disruptive to the social order. Louis Dupree articulates the male Afghan perspective: "Traditionally, out-group Afghan and Pakistani feuds involve zan (women), zar (literally gold, symbolizing portable property), and zamin (land, and other immovable property)." Canfield writes that among Hazaras "men typically believe the women to be violent or fierce." They also regard women as untrustworthy. Women all over the Middle East are believed to require supervision by relatives to ensure that they are virgins until marriage and chaste throughout their entire lives. In some groups, such as the Pashtuns studied by Beattie, a bride who does not exhibit signs of virginity on the wedding night may be murdered by her father and/or brothers. Beattie reports that among two other ethnic groups he studied, the Paghmanis and Absarinas, the consequences for the bride would not be so deadly: "The groom and his family will feel insulted and the marriage will begin on the wrong footing."

Most research on Afghanistan has been conducted by males so that, given gender separation, there is a paucity of studies of Afghan women. Fortunately, there have been a few female scholars who have examined women's lives. They present a very different picture of gender stereotypes (based on the Afghan female perspective) than the male Afghan viewpoint. Danish scholar Inger W. Boesen reports that women resent male control of their sexuality and rebel. They pursue extramarital affairs and cover up each others' activities. Such rebellions, however, do not challenge gender status ranking. Shalinsky lived with Uzbeks who immigrated to Konduz from the Soviet Union. Among these Uzbek immigrants, women viewed their own sexuality very positively, while denigrating men's sexuality. They might speak contemptuously about men on this and other issues. Nancy Tapper distills Pashtun nomad women's aim in life to a simple wish, which is probably shared by a majority of the country's women: "The principal goal in life is a successful marriage with many sons." Based on Shalinsky's data of mother﷓daughter love and rapport, women may also wish for many daughters.

Men are expected to be leaders, protectors, and disciplinarians (although women serve as disciplinarians to those in their charge). Men must also be brave. They are expected to support their parents in their old age, but Shalinsky's research reinforces the common Middle Eastern perception that daughters are more reliable in a crisis. Boys are circumcised in accordance with Quranic prescription. Among Uzbek migrants this procedure takes place between the ages of three and seven. Men are expected to be sexually incontinent. They gain prestige through having illicit sex with women in other men's charge and lose prestige by men having illicit sex with women in their charge.

The effect of Decree No. 7 on women's status was not known as of 1985. The Democratic Women's Organization of Afghanistan (DWOA) was organized by Dr. Anahita Ratebzad after the foundation of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). Its function was to educate women, bring them out of seclusion, and initiate social programs. It was still functioning and growing in the mid-1980s.

PDPA leaders employed Kabul youths' dissatisfaction with the constrictions of traditional gender roles for recruiting purposes. Open dating was not acceptable in Kabul in the late 1960s and early 1970s, yet many young people desired the opportunity to mix more freely with agemates of the opposite sex. Ratebzad, a leading physician and PDPA official, and her lover, Babrak Karmal, recruited youth to the PDPA in the late 1960s and early 1970s by following up mixed﷓sex party meetings with disco parties. Discos at the time existed in Kabul but were expensive and considered immoral by middle﷓class families. They were only the province of the elite; PDPA parties provided the disco option to middle﷓class young people. In 1985 women were admitted to militias on a volunteer basis. They were encouraged to enlist, and female "martyrs" were glorified in the Afghan press.

This page maintained by Luke Griffin and last updated on 01/14/2002 .