Text: Gendered Aid
Interventions and Afghan Women: Images versus Realities
Author: Lina Abirafeh
Lina Abirafeh received her PhD from the London School of
Economics and Political Science, where she studied gender-focused international
aid in conflict and post-conflict places. In this text, she shares information
she collected through interviews with Afghan people, addressing the problem of
representation of Afghan women in Western media, and reporting the opinion of locals
about gender-focused aids.
Afghanistan has been historically considered
male-oriented, putting the women in a position of oppression by the man. Due to
the historical disadvantage of women, modern – westernized – interventions have
focused in liberating women from their inferior positions. However, Abirafeh
notes that most of the imposed changes – if not all of them – have not been
idealised by Afghan women, leaving the latter outside of decisions regarding
their own lives. Abirafeh argues that part of the reason why Afghan women have
not been consulted by international organizations is that they have been
painted - by western media – as weak, oppressed and incapable of fighting for
themselves. Nonetheless, the author advocates that, despite what media and
history shows, Afghan women are strong and, in fact, have installed their own
Afghan model of feminism.
In the interviews that Abirafeh conducted with locals,
mostly from rural areas, she found that a significant percentage of Afghan
women considered their identity as Muslim the most important aspect of their
identities, which proves the force of Islam, and, surprisely, placed their
family identities as the last relevant. The authors reveals that this
information contrasts with the answer given by men, who ranked their families
as their top. Abirafeh explains that his happens because of traditional roles
for both men and women. She adds that, regardless the fact the majority of women
alleged that they feel that Afghan women do suffer from patriarchal system,
they believe that they have slowly started to exert their rights. However, a
significant part of the interviewees expressed the desire of preserving
traditional values. In conclusion, Abirafeh discloses that support for areas in
conflict or post/conflict areas, does not have to correspond to western standards
of democracy, human’s rights and women’s liberation.
In my opinion, this text was very interesting, as I have
always felt curious about Afghan women’s perception of themselves and their
opinions about how westerns see them. It has made me question how careful aid
organizations are in terms of taking in consideration cultural aspects that
they might not even be able to understand in their actions, and made me wonder
if international aid organizations can be considered a new way of colonization,
for it seem that they, intentionally or unintentionally, inject western values
in conflicted communities. As a layperson, this text made me more aware of the
media’s misrepresentation of Afghan women, and, as a designer, made me
understand that criticising traditional dress, such as the burka, is a form of oppression
and of taking away the freedom of choice of Muslim women. They should be the
ones deciding how they want to live their lives and to dress. Imposing western
ideals of liberty is not the ultimately correct way of emancipating Afghan
women.
Afghanistan's Tahmina Kohistani (right) after competing in the women's 100-meter heats at the athletics event during the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Image: http://gdb.rferl.org/5DB8B23C-75F3-4DF0-A634-2502E8E3CCFE_mw1024_mh1024_s.jpg)
Dooa Elghobashy: 'I have worn the hijab for 10 years. It doesn’t keep me away from the things I love to do, and beach volleyball is one of them'. (Sims, 2016)
Dooa Elghobashy playing for Egypt in the Rio Olympic Games.The pictures showing the contrast between the traditional beach volleyball outfit and the outfit wore by the Egyptian player became viral on the internet. (Image: http://www.barenakedislam.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/36FBD12C00000578-0-image-a-1_1470641618986.jpg)
Dooa Elghobashy (Image: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2016/08/09/12/egypt-volleyball.jpg)
Indonesian designer Anniesa Hasibuan made history with her Spring/Summer 2017 collection that featured hijab in every look during New York Fashion Week. (Fenton, 2016)
Anniesa Hasibuan SS2017 collection. (Image: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/09/16/09/nyfw2.jpeg)
Anniesa Hasibuan SS2017 collection.(Image: http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/16/37/768x1152/gallery-1473879433-gettyimages-603546284.jpg)
Anniesa Hasibuan in New York Fashion Week 2016. (Image: http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/14AD3/production/_91219648_mediaitem91219647.jpg)
@queenofluna is a Muslim make up artist that gained the internet with her Disney inspired hijab looks (Gordon, 2016), once again proving that traditional dress does not have to keep women away from their own identities. See some of her looks here:
REFERENCES
Fenton, S. Muslim fashion designer makes history with
hijab collection at New York Fashion Week Anniesa Hasibuan's collection
featured silk hijabs in ivory, peach and grey silk. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-hijab-collection-muslim-designer-anniesa-hasibuan-djakarta-a7310796.html
(Acessed: 28/11/2016)
Gordon, L. (2016) This make-up
artist uses her hijab to turn into Disney princesses. Available at: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1
(Acessed: 28/11/2016)
Institute for Women’s Studies
in the Arab world (2016) Staff. Available at: http://iwsaw.lau.edu.lb/about/staff.php
(Accessed: 28/11/2016).
Sims, A. (2016) Rio 2016: Wearing a Hijab 'won't
keep' Egyptian volleyball player Doaa Elghobashy 'away' from sport. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/rio-2016-wearing-a-hijab-wont-keep-egyptian-volleyball-player-doaa-elghobashy-away-from-sport-a7180636.html
(Accessed: 28/11/2016).
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