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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Thousands of Afghan women in peril as Taliban voids their divorces, experts say

11 replies

TheBiologyStupid · 05/03/2023 14:02

According to The Washington Post:

After her stepfather sold her into marriage at the age of 13 to support his drug habit, the young Afghan woman fought for years to escape an abusive husband. She eventually fled his home, secured a divorce and remarried, she recalled.

Now, under Taliban rule, she’s suddenly on the run again, at risk of imprisonment for adultery.

Under the previous government, this woman from western Afghanistan could get a divorce by testifying that her first husband was physically abusive, even though he refused to appear before the judge. But under the Taliban’s draconian interpretation of Islamic law, her divorce is invalid and, as a result, so is her second marriage.

Former judges and lawyers estimate that thousands of Afghan women who earlier secured divorces without a husband’s consent are now in danger under Taliban rule, facing potential imprisonment and violent reprisals.

The “one-sided” divorces under the previous government were largely granted to women trying to escape abusive or drug-addicted husbands, according to the former judges and lawyers. Since that government’s collapse in 2021, power has shifted in the favor of the divorced husbands, especially those with Taliban ties.

www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/04/afghanistan-taliban-women-marriage-divorce/

Archived copy: archive.ph/3gD86

Shocking, but not surprising. Those poor women and girls.

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TeenDivided · 05/03/2023 14:07

Yet more Handmaids Tale

Rainbowshit · 05/03/2023 14:18

This is horrifying.

fabricstash · 05/03/2023 16:42

Appalling! What is the best way we in this country can support these women?

nepeta · 05/03/2023 17:52

The Taliban is taking away everything from women and girls. This is what they did in the 1990s, too.

The Taliban interprets Islam in the Wahhabist/Salafist tradition and that is extremely bad news for women and girls.

MrsOvertonsWindow · 05/03/2023 18:46

It never stops does it - these poor women.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 05/03/2023 18:48

That's awful.

SweetSakura · 05/03/2023 18:51

Utterly awful. And I feel helpless reading about it.
I cant imagine the fear they must feel

SweetSakura · 05/03/2023 18:52

fabricstash · 05/03/2023 16:42

Appalling! What is the best way we in this country can support these women?

I would like to know this. It doesn't feel enough to just be horrified by this.

Throwncrumbs · 05/03/2023 18:53

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dimorphism · 05/03/2023 19:14

I would also like to know what we can do and whether women being targeted in Afghanistan in this way have a fast tracked route to asylum in the UK?

Really - all else being equal - we should also prioritise families with female children who will not have the right to education in their home countries (which is a human right). I also think that boys who have grown up witnessing this sort of extremist misogynistic regime should not initially (at least) be put in schools with girls.

TheBiologyStupid · 05/03/2023 19:50

fabricstash · 05/03/2023 16:42

Appalling! What is the best way we in this country can support these women?

I really wish I knew. The UN and international aid agencies need to put pressure on the Taliban, but it all seems pretty hopeless.

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