Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

“Empowering Women means Empowering World”

It is one of the most unfortunate facts that the discriminatory behavior against women has always been there through most part of human history. Though women’s existence is of utmost importance and their role is really vital, their position is not what they deserve and the attitude towards them has been really negative. Since the very beginning of human civilization, during the age of slavery, human suffered violence and dominance by the opposite sex. They were discriminated both by superstitious rituals and religious practices. As the civilization evolved and human beings entered the age of agriculture, the circumstances did not change much for women. They were then considered as the personal property of the landlords (Many countries where there is agricultural system, still women are treated in similar fashion). With the beginning of modern era – the rise of capitalism and democracy though there have been important changes, there are still myriads of concerns regarding the position of women in the society. And, the world cannot claim to be democratic or civilized in the true sense unless the rights of women are properly guarded and they are given the position they really deserve. And this is not the responsibility of the women alone, not of certain feminist or human rights organizations but of all the human beings.

Today is 8th March, the world is celebrating “International Women’s Day” and it is the perfect time to revise our commitments and to ensure that we will be able to make some practical efforts to move towards a world with more gender justice and equal rights for women. The Theme for this year’s Women’s Day is “Empowering women – Empowering World: Picture it! This is really important to realize that empowering women does not only mean that women are empowered but it supports in empowering the world as whole. As they form half of the population of the world, they have the capacity to perform miracles for the world as a whole and support it towards better destinations. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, “To be truly transformative, the post-2015 development agenda must prioritize gender equality and women’s empowerment. The world will never realize 100 percent of its goals if 50 percent of its people cannot realize their full potential”.

Afghanistan is also one of the countries that have to make that commitment as women in this country have not been empowered as much as they should be. Women in Afghanistan have been undergoing discriminatory behavior for decades now. The religious extremism and obsolete tribal values have been vehemently responsible for violation and violence against them. Even though, they have been echoing their concerns, they do not seem to get as much attention as possible in the patriarchal Afghan society. As a matter of fact, the male-chauvinistic ears are not ready to hear them though they feel their vibrations clearly. Nevertheless, the efforts in this regard must never be given up and they should continue in every possible way. One of the ways to rise up and be counted in the social and political life is to strive participating in the social and political institutions and processes. And, this is not the responsibility of a particular faction of society, not a particular stratum, not even a particular gender but of all those human beings have some concern and some love for human rights, the ones who believe in dignity of human beings and their existence without any differentiation of gender.

Particularly, men can play an imperative role. Though they have been mostly responsible for the discrimination, modern men can now change their attitude and commit themselves to make the difference. Fighting the discrimination and violence does not necessarily mean that women alone should shoulder the responsibility. There should be efforts to bring about changes in the attitude of men towards women; otherwise, fighting for the rights of women would be very difficult.

In similar fashion, the different institutions, functioning in the society must also fulfill their responsibilities and they must ensure that there should not be biased policies and attitude against the women. Their policies and practices must never be inclined towards discrimination and injustice on the basis of gender. Not only the women rights organization but different other social, political and administrative organizations can have a part in making sure that women are properly compensated within the system and are not neglected on the basis of prejudice.

In the countries like Afghanistan, the religious and tribal institutions can also play tremendous role in uplifting the position of women and giving them the status they deserve. As most of the people are religious and tribal, they can easily be motivated by such institutions for better and higher purposes. And, 8th of March is the best day for all those institutions. Let’s make sure that this Women’s Day does not end only in conferences and celebrations by certain organizations and individuals but in resolute commitments that there will be practical efforts for the rights and position of women.