The history of communist Afghanistan is extremely mixed. After coming to power in the Saur Revolution in 1978, for most of its existence under the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) it was under the shadow of civil war, soviet occupation and war crimes as well as the brutality of its own government until eventually falling from power in 1992.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan
One rare bright spot was the advance of women's rights. women's rights had already advanced considerably under the Kingdom of Afghanistan and Communist rule greatly strengthened this. As the video below demonstrates, rates of women's participation a in the professions were high during communist rule. Overall however, a majority of afghan women continued to live in poverty and were unable to access these opportunities.
The Afghans Women Council (AWC) provided social service to combat illiteracy and provided vocational training for women as secretaries, hairdressers and in mechanical workshops. It had around 150,000 members throughout the country (except for the provinces of Wardak and Katawaz). An AWC survey in 1991 recorded that over 7,000 women were in higher education and around 230,000 girls were in schools in Afghanistan, with 190 female professors and 22,00 female teachers. Most of the women in the Afghan capital, Kabul resisted the Mujihadeen because of the latter a harsh and discriminatory laws against women.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Women's_Council
This topic is at an intersection between current discussions on feminism, Islam and secularism and may have wider interest. much of the footage in the video is a challenge to preconceptions about Afghanistan as an inherently "backward" or theocratic country and it's worth a watch if only for that.
In the wake of the US occupation, women's rights continues to be an issue in Afghanistan:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights_in_Afghanistan
The video covers both the communist and pre-communist eras. Some of the initial images are the abuses of Taliban rule, so you may want to skip them and go to 0:33 in the video.
Any thoughts?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Afghanistan
One rare bright spot was the advance of women's rights. women's rights had already advanced considerably under the Kingdom of Afghanistan and Communist rule greatly strengthened this. As the video below demonstrates, rates of women's participation a in the professions were high during communist rule. Overall however, a majority of afghan women continued to live in poverty and were unable to access these opportunities.
The Afghans Women Council (AWC) provided social service to combat illiteracy and provided vocational training for women as secretaries, hairdressers and in mechanical workshops. It had around 150,000 members throughout the country (except for the provinces of Wardak and Katawaz). An AWC survey in 1991 recorded that over 7,000 women were in higher education and around 230,000 girls were in schools in Afghanistan, with 190 female professors and 22,00 female teachers. Most of the women in the Afghan capital, Kabul resisted the Mujihadeen because of the latter a harsh and discriminatory laws against women.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_Women's_Council
This topic is at an intersection between current discussions on feminism, Islam and secularism and may have wider interest. much of the footage in the video is a challenge to preconceptions about Afghanistan as an inherently "backward" or theocratic country and it's worth a watch if only for that.
In the wake of the US occupation, women's rights continues to be an issue in Afghanistan:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women's_rights_in_Afghanistan
The video covers both the communist and pre-communist eras. Some of the initial images are the abuses of Taliban rule, so you may want to skip them and go to 0:33 in the video.
Any thoughts?
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