President Barack Obama is considering sending tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan to help rescue the failing country. But a university panel yesterday proposed a different focus for rescue efforts: women.
Students and other members of the university community gathered to hear a discussion, entitled “The Question of Afghanistan: Could Women be the Answer?” based on the role of women in Afghanistan’s development amid conflict and oppression last night in the Stamp Student Union.
The panel discussion consisted of three panelists who sought to inform students on the current situations and hardships faced by the women in Afghanistan in their pursuit of their basic rights.
The nearly two-hour event attracted more than 50 people and was co-sponsored by the Honors College along with Global Communities, the university’s Persian Program and Peace X Peace.
Two members of the panel, Suraya Pakzad and Nasrine Gross, grew up in Afghanistan and witnessed the freedom women lost as a result of the Taliban occupancy and the government’s failure to uphold women’s rights as outlined by the country’s constitution.
Both have acted as activists for women’s rights, putting their lives at risk.
“The country will never truly prosper without its female population contribution,” Pakzad said, adding that she had waited years for a reaction from the international community to the oppression faced by Afghan women. When nothing happened, she took action herself, founding Voice of Women in 1998 and developing projects addressing issues from illiteracy to domestic abuse.
“It was like playing with fire,” Pakzad said.
Gross expressed a similar emphasis on the significance of female contribution to bring about a measure of peace. Founder of the Roqia Center for Women’s Rights, Studies, and Education in Afghanistan, Gross said she sees the education of women as one of many steps that will allow them to become “complete actors in society.”
“Life has become complex and needs all of its members — men and women — in society,” Gross said.
Natalie Gill, a freshman government and politics major who attended the event, was especially struck by Gross’ perspective on the powerful effect of women as mothers raising their children under a certain philosophy.
“She really emphasized the role of the women and their sons, and the family as a focal point,” said Gill.
Though there are few women who have been able to rise to positions of influence and leadership in Afghanistan, Tazreena Sajjad, a doctoral student at American University and the event’s third panelist, noted the impact of female judges, lawyers and politicians and the presence of women in the education and health sectors.
Though it lacks proper enforcement, the country’s constitution provides many important rights, including education for all citizens and access to employment, Sajjad said.
After hearing the accounts of the panelists, students were struck by the life stories and risks taken by these women.
“They do what they do knowing, if they go back, they could die,” Ani Pobbati, a freshman aerospace engineering major, said.
ga at umdbk dot com
