Faq on Women in Afghanistan

This set of facts was compiled from information from AIHRC, UNICEF, HRW

Violence

* 50 per cent of Afghan women say they have been beaten, while 200 women in Kandahar ran away from domestic violence this year.

* In the past year, 150 cases of women resorting to self-immolation have been reported in western Afghanistan, 34 cases in the south-east.

* 197 women in Herat were reported to have attempted suicide last year, 69 successfully.

* 57 per cent of girls are married before the legal age of 16.

Education

* 85 per cent of women in Afghanistan are illiterate.

* The number of girls going to school in Afghanistan is half that of boys.

* 300 schools were set on fire across the country this year.

Health

* 70 per cent of tuberculosis deaths are among women.

* Death rate of mothers in labour is 60 in 1000 - (60 per cent higher than developed world).

* Only 5-7 per cent of women in Zabul and Helmand province have access to health care.

Voting

* 41 per cent of the 10.5 million registered voters are women. Women's registration rates in southern provinces were much lower than the national average: Zabul (9 per cent), Uruzgan (10 per cent) Helmand (16 per cent), and Kandahar (27 per cent)
(source)

In areas where the Taliban have been active, many schools for girls have been burned down and women leaders have been killed. Entire provinces have no schools for girls. Women's suicide rates are going up.

But like the fate of women in Darfur, their lot has been underreported and mostly goes unheralded. Before we listen to anybody tell us how Islamic rules about women are designed to protect them, we also need to see how those rules are used, and make our decisions after weighing all the facts.