Thirteen years after the fall of the Taliban regime, there have been tangible gains for Afghan women. My earliest memory was of war. I remember the sound of a rocket and then the windows all breaking. I went to school until I was 18 and my happiest memory was when I graduated and was holding my certificate in my hand. I wanted to go to university, but there are no universities here and Kabul is too far to go every day.
And anyway, if I were to go to Kabul every day on my own, the neighbors would think I was immoral. I want to work, I really do and my family lets me, so I help other women in our village become literate. My mother suffered so much in the past so of course I am afraid of those days returning. Not having an education really hurts me. My daughter goes to school now though and wants to be a doctor. When they left my husband got a job in a bakery and was earning that much per day but it took around 3 or 4 years before things really started to change.
Life is better now. It is important that women are listened to โ after all, women and children are the most affected and the most vulnerable in war and if we are ignored now, life will return to how it was before. Recently there was a male MP who threatened one of my colleagues. But still we must fight. Those are the women who need our help. My husband took me to Pakistan as soon as we were married. When we came back after the Taliban had left it was very tough. Our house had been destroyed and we had no shelter.
He is an angry man and beats my sister-in-law and I. But I hope they will one day be teachers or doctors and have a better life. I have a page of my designs on Facebook but people have started to post offensive pictures and message me saying that my work is un-Islamic. He even told one of my friends he would throw acid in my face. In order for women to succeed we need to take small steps. Here, it is expected that girls marry at 18 and then their lives are over; they are just in charge of having children and the home.
But I think you have to live your dreams and force people to let you dream. After I graduated I worked in the criminal investigations department but then there was a civil war followed by the Taliban.
