Women in Afghanistan: A Historical Study

Afghanistan is a landlocked country with Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, China, Iran and Pakistan as its neighbours. It is a small country in the benign protection of the Hindu Kush and the great Himalayas with its rugged hills and sturdy people who, till yesterday appeared to be leading a sleepy and indifferent existence under the tyrannical feudal dynasties. Afghanistan has remained geographically, religio-culturally and commercially intimately connected with the neighboring countries. The issue of gender has been utilised as an instrument to serve the centralized state‘s larger political agendas, rather than to meet the basic needs of the majority women. It is true that in both the 1964 and 1977 Afghan constitutions, women and men were recognised as equal before the law and women were given equal rights and privileges, but in practice ,patriarchy and tribal social conduct continued to dominate gender related relationships.