Brave Women in a War-Torn World: RAWA and Afghanistan
by Jamie Scharbrough

Afghanistan’s women, long considered the nation’s second-class citizens, have suffered more than any other segment of its population at the hands of religious extremists and ambitious politicians. Afghani women have been denied their rights: the right to leave their homes unless accompanied by a man, the right to work, the right to vote, the right to be educated, even the right to dress as they please.  For years, these women have been severely limited in their freedom, treated like chattel, and often bought and sold like property under the guise of arranged marriages.

Afghanistan is the country in which Meena Keshwar Kamal was born; a country rife with oppression against women, where many women, as a result, resort to such drastic measures as self-immolation in an attempt to escape their fate. Despite what some call progress in the ongoing Afghan military campaign, the women of Afghanistan have seen little progress in regard to their position in society.i  Meena sought to change that. In 1977, while she was in college, Meena founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, her country’s very first feminist political organization. The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, known as RAWA, is an organization solely for women and was originally created with anti-fundamentalist ideals in mind.  Its ultimate goal was to give Afghani women the freedom they deserved, be that the freedom to drive a car, the freedom to vote or the freedom to pursue an education.  To achieve its purposes, RAWA built secular schools for both boys and girls, published a newspaper which spoke out against fundamentalist propaganda and appointed a committee to share information concerning the dire situation of Afghani women with others around the world.

Meena was 20 years old and living in Kabul when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and set up a puppet government designed to bring Afghanistan under Soviet control.  Under this regime, women’s freedoms were severely restricted. When Meena saw and experienced the oppression of women in her
country, she founded RAWA in the belief that bringing equality to the women of Afghanistan would benefit all the people Afghanistan, regardless of their sex or religion.iii The organization was initially small and quietly active, meeting in separate groups of three or four. Meena and her RAWA allies were known only by their first names or by false names in order to protect themselves and their families from the Soviet puppet state and from Afghani fundamentalists. They founded the group on the principles of democracy and equality for women. They made a point of discussing issues that arose until the entire group reached a consensus.iv The most radical consensus reached was that women of all ethnic and religious groups were welcome to join RAWA as long as they supported the group’s principles, a departure from the practices of the male political groups in their country. This decision was revolutionary for the group, bridging gaps among many women who, due to differences in ethnicity and/or religion, had not previously communicated with each other. RAWA’s position brought the organization the enmity of Afghanistan’s government.v  

Meena wrote to organizations in Europe and the United States, requesting financial support for RAWA.vi  The generous response to this call for aid provided the funding for RAWA to build schools. Schools like the Watan School for Girls and the Shaheed Qubad School for Boys provide an equal education for children, from the age of four up to high school age. In these schools, both boys and girls receive excellent educations, with an emphasis on democracy and on equality for men and women.vii The children are taught by members of RAWA and, at night, literacy classes are held for adult women.  In addition to raising donated funds, Meena also put together a workforce of seamstresses.  Through their efforts, RAWA raised money for more schools and established the Malalai Hospital in Pakistan.viii Many of RAWA’s early activities were conducted in neighboring Pakistan because the organization was outlawed in Afghanistan.

After launching RAWA and guiding it through its first ten years, Meena was assassinated in 1987. Her assassination did not end RAWA’s fight for freedom, justice, and equality.  Despite the sorrow and grief of the members of the organization, they proceeded with the plans Meena had laid out before her death:  an expansion of Malalai Hospital, more schools, and an international call for aid for Afghanistan.

In addition to providing care and education for the women of Afghanistan, RAWA began gathering evidence of the mistreatment of women in their country.  In the 1990’s, members managed to obtain video cameras, which they used to secretly film the public beatings of women.ix These videos later provided proof of their allegations that the government was discriminating against women.x The videos are currently on the RAWA website and have been picked up by various news sources.

Today, the women of RAWA report that their sisters continue to suffer from oppression and gender discrimination.  In a 2009 interview, RAWA member Mariam Rawi said that there has been no significant progress for the women of Afghanistan.  “There is no tangible change in the conditions of Afghan women; in certain parts of the country the life is worse than under the Taliban.  The rate of kidnappings, rapes, selling of girls, forced marriages, acid attacks, prostitution and self-immolation by girls and women has reached a record high, even compared to the Taliban regime.”xi

The leaders of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan continue to fight for democracy and equality in Afghanistan, often at the cost of their own lives.  In spite of the dangers of associating with RAWA, women step forward and speak out publicly about the injustice done to their sisters and their country. One of these women, whose pseudonym is Zoya, testified to the Human Rights Commission of the German Parliament in 2008, urging Germany to remove its troops from Afghanistan.xii Zoya, one of the current leaders and spokeswomen of RAWA, began as a student in one of RAWA’s schools when she was 14.  Now 28, she is on RAWA’s Foreign Committee and is responsible for telling the story of Afghani women’s experiences to people in other countries in the hope that they will listen and lend their support. She travels to democratic nations like the United States and England to speak out about the horrors being experienced by the women of Afghanistan, and she has appeared on a local Afghan television channel, where she engaged in a debate with a fundamentalist representative. This was the first time in RAWA history a member outed herself,
risking imprisonment and death by relinquishing her anonymity.  Zoya supports RAWA because its beliefs echo her own: gender equality, freedom of religion, women’s rights, and opposition to fundamentalist Islam.  She has been an international spokeswoman for RAWA, and continues to hope that the rest of the free world will listen as the women of Afghanistan cry out for the most basic of human rights.

Like other members of her sisterhood, Zoya does not hesitate to boldly point out who is responsible for the terrorist reign in Afghanistan.  The current regime of Hamid Karzai, she says, is only partially to blame.xii She holds the United States responsible, among others. “The U.S.  government has never supported democratic organizations like RAWA…The U.S. invaded Afghanistan to fulfill its geo-political, economic, and regional strategic interests and to transform Afghanistan into a strong military base in the region.”xiii  RAWA also holds the Soviet Union accountable for worsening the situation in Afghanistan by its invasion of the country. But the darkest enemies, Zoya says, are the Taliban and those who support a fundamentalist Islamic rule.  RAWA, which has always supported freedom of religion, believes that occupation of Afghanistan by the Taliban will plunge the country even further into darkness and despair.  Meena declared this at RAWA’s founding; the group continues to hold this belief.

Take Action 
The women of Afghanistan are our sisters. In order help them, you must become informed about their situation. Read “Meena: The Heroine of Afghanistan,” which provides a detailed history of RAWA and its founder. Access the RAWA website (www.rawa.org), which provides current information on the fight for women in Afghanistan and the action RAWA is taking, as well as suggestions for supporting RAWA, then share this information with others.  Organize fundraisers for RAWA or invite a RAWA representative to speak at a benefit. Encourage your local paper to keep the oppression women in Afghanistan in the headlines. Get involved with the Feminist Majority’s program, “Feminists without Borders,” which helps college students to raise money for women in war-torn countries, including Afghanistan. The Feminist Majority often raises money in support of the activities of RAWA.

The women in Afghanistan are our sisters. We must support their fight for their rights.  Their battle is our battle, too.

Footnotes
i “Ainsworth defends Afghan Mission.” British Broadcasting Corporation. 2009.
BBC, 17 Aug, 2009.  <http://news.bbc.co.uk_news/8205171.stm.>
ii Chavis, Melody Ermachild. Meena: The Heroine of Afghanistan. 1st. New York.NY:  St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003. 56-57
iii Ibid, 58
iv Ibid, 60
v  “About RAWA.”
vi Chavis 35.
vii Ibid, 115.
viii Chavis, 145.
ix Chavis, 210.
x Chavis 211.
xi  Rawi, Mariam. RAWA. Interview by Ian Sinclair. 06 May 2009. Web. 14 Sep       2009. <http://www.rawa.org/rawa/2009/05/06/interview-with-the-revolutionary-association-of-the-women-of-afghanistan.html>.
xii Zoya. RAWA.  Interview by Elsa Rassbach. 22 May 2009. RAWA.org. Web. 14 Sep 2009. <http://www.rawa.org/rawa/2009/05/22/the-u-s-government-has-never-supported-democratic-organizations.html>.
xiii Ibid.