Gender Roles In Afghanistan

When asked why women need to be confined at home, Syed Ghayasuddin, a Taliban Minister of Education stated, "It 's like having a flower, or a rose. You water it and keep it at home for yourself, to look at it and smell it. It [a woman] is not supposed to be taken out of the house to be smelled." With this quote, one get’s a glimpse of what the mind of a male who lives within the sexist roles taken upon people in Afghanistan before and during the reign of the Taliban is like. When looking at a work involving the double standards put on women, the feminist perspective uses the conflict approach to examine the reinforcement of gender roles and inequalities, highlighting the role of patriarchy in maintaining the oppression of women. A Thousand …show more content…
Laila was simply walking down the street when boys stopped her and pointed a water gun full of urine at her and stated she was “so very pretty” and they want to “marry her”, referring to her as “yellow hair” before spraying her with the gun (Hosseini 117). Laila is viewed as an object to these boys who are tormenting her; they do not even call her name, instead, they call her by a dehumanizing nickname and tease her with the idea that they would like to marry her. By following that statement with spraying Laila with urine from a water gun, it is shown that boys in this culture do not treat women with respect even if they claim they want to marry or even are married to them. Considering that these boys are young, it proves that these cultural norms of abuse and oppression to women are planted in boy’s minds before they can even make decisions for themselves. Although Laila had been “living on the front line of political, fundamental, and domestic terror”, she had managed to gain an education and dream of a bright future despite the fact that she is a woman. Laila not only dreamed of a bright future, but she very well could have gotten it if men hadn’t made it impossible for her starting with the boys in her neighborhood, then the taliban, and Rasheed. Living in Afghanistan during this period as a woman meant being in …show more content…
Even though their relationship started out rough, Mariam angry and jealous at the new girl in the house, when Laila stood up for Mariam they both “knew that they were not enemies any longer” (Hosseni 250). Realizing that no one else would, Laila and Mariam had to take care of each other. By living in this male dominated country, they were unable to protect themselves from Rasheed. This not only shows the importance of having another person to go through troubles with but in this situation, the importance of having another female to relate to and console in. Although they didn’t dare physically fight back, draining the two girls of happiness and hope became impossible when they began coming together as sisters instead of enemies. Despite the two girls “strategic contrasts physically, socially, and psychologically,” (Chua) they managed to become friends due to the terrible conditions they were in and the horrifying circumstances they were under. Until Rasheed had to physically separate them after their planned escape, these women created a bond that not even an abusive husband could