It’s not just about burqas

Posted by Lianne Gutcher at 13:38 on 1 Jun 2010

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I came across another Huffington Post article - more sensible than the last - looking at Afghan women in the media.
 
In the piece, the author, Marcia G Yerman, quotes an Afghan woman, Sadiqa Basiri, as saying: "In the West, there is only one story. Burqas." Basiri goes on to explain that life in Afghanistan has changed dramatically for educated women, such as those in the fields of engineering and medicine.
 
There is, Yerman says, a need to balance out the "acid throwing stories."
 
This week in Kabul, the big women's story is fear that the very large jirga (meeting) - organised and dominated by blokes - to discuss peace with the Taliban will sell women's rights down the river.
 
This remains to be seen.

But I did get to go to one women's event last week that showed progress is being made: the swearing in of the first group of women candidates at the Afghan army's officer training school.
 
What was very cool was that Brigadier General Anne Macdonald, who was in the first graduating class of women at West Point (the US military academy) thirty years ago, came along to support the women.
 
"I am testament to what you can achieve if you work hard," she said.
 
I spoke to two of the officer candidates and it seems that in the same way that if you want to become an Afghan female politician it's helpful to have a husband who is dead (otherwise you have to stay home and look after him), if you want to be an Army officer its useful to have a father who was in the armed forces. I don't mean this in a nepotism kind of way, I mean this in a "he understands and encourages me" kind of way.
 
I guess in some ways it may be less risky being an army woman than a policewoman, local councillor or MP because these women are more visible in their local communities and that is where harm comes to them. Malalai Kakar, Afghanistan's most high-profile policewoman, was gunned down by the Taliban on her doorstep in 2008. But being a women in any kind of public service job, I'd still be pretty worried about being a target.
 
"Aren't you scared?" I asked one candidate.
 
"No," she replied. "I want to fight and I want to go to war."
 
I asked the same of another girl. She looked at me as if I was a bit simple and gently explained: "I wouldn't be here if I was."
 
(I overheard her US army mentor calling her by her nickname: "Cheeks" She did have lovely rosy apple cheeks.)
 
I asked her if she was married and if she thought being an army officer might put off potential suitors.
 
She said she wasn't but added something along the lines of: "There are all sorts of men out there. Those who are open minded and those who are less so."
 
So, there you have it. Afghan women: Kickass and sanguine.

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