Tuesday, 29 November 2016

29th of November~ Gendered Aid Interventions and Afghan Women: Images versus Realities

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:

@queenofluna as Mulan. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)

@queenofluna as Ariel. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)

@queenofluna as Tinker Bell. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)






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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