We Are Afghan Women

Voices of Hope

George W. Bush Institute

• Publisher: Scribner
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781501120527
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

"Inspiring stories that not only capture the suffering of Afghan women, but also show their tremendous courage and resilience and the contribution they are making to build a better future for Afghanistan" (Hillary Rodham Clinton). Told in their own voices, the moving, courageous, and personal stories in We Are Afghan Women vividly describe a country that is one of the most dangerous places to be a young girl or pregnant woman; a country undone by decades of war and now struggling to build a lasting peace; a country where women have defied the odds. Women like Dr. Sakena Yacobi, who ran underground schools for girls until the Taliban fell, after which she established schools across Afghanistan to teach women to read and to educate and prepare girls to become teachers, doctors, lawyers, business owners, and politicians, and Masooma Jafari, who started a national midwives association, after her own mother was forced into marriage when she was twelve years old and gave birth to her first child at thirteen. "An incredible portrait of the Afghan women working to create a better future for their communities and future generations. Their stories of strength and resilience can inspire us all to reach for a more equal and peaceful world" (Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and founder of LeanIn.Org) and remind us of the dangers of tactics that target women in order to limit their roles in society and in government. Fifteen thousand women are now enrolled in Afghanistan's universities, but girls continue to face violence for pursuing an education. The realities of life in this part of the world, one of the most dangerous places to be a child or pregnant woman, are tough, but this unique book celebrates the lives of women who have defied the odds. Their eloquent words challenge all of us to answer: What does it truly mean to be a woman in the twenty-first century?

INDEX

• • • •

A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

accounting careers, 63, 67, 68, 69–70, 78, 81, 85, 235

Afghan army, xix, 15, 19, 24, 129, 220, 221, 231, 293

Afghan Beekeepers Society, 9

Afghan diaspora

Asía Frotan’s experience in, 211–14

contact with events in Afghanistan by, 141–42

differences among communities of, 214

domestic violence in, 212–13

fund-raising by, 139, 141

Hodei Sultan as member of, 47–51

Mina Sherzoy as member of, 140–43

need for return to Afghanistan of members of, 159

number of refugees in, 47

return to Afghanistan by members of, 51, 54, 143–46

Taliban viewed by, 142

Afghan Institute of Learning, 89, 92, 313, 315

Afghanistan Analysts Network, 247

Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), 47, 279

Afghan Midwives Association, 217, 220

Afghan student associations, 214

Afghans4Tomorrow, 105, 106

Afghan Supreme Court, 245, 293

Afghan Women Judges Association, 287

Afghan Women’s Business Federation (AWBF), 9, 137, 148, 313

Afghan Women’s National Volleyball Team, 129

Afghan Women’s Network, 200

Afghan Women’s Project, 311

agricultural work, 147, 151, 168, 277

aid organizations

Belquis Gavagan’s work for, 23, 30

Hodei Sultan’s...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Map of Afghanistan
• Introduction
• Living
• Learning
• Working
• Surviving
• Challenging
• Afghanistan Timeline
• Acknowledgments
• About Laura Bush
• A Note About Resources
• Photograph Credits
• Index
• Copyright