Prior to the atrocities of September 11, 2001, the inhumane treatment of women by the Taliban received sporadic media and academic coverage. After the disintegration of the Taliban and al-Qaeda alliance, Afghanistan has been on the forefront of international headlines. The Taliban removal has also opened the venue for academic studies in Afghanistan. However, Afghanistan's urban and rural social structures and in particular the role of women remains an understudied topic. In Women from Afghanistan in Diaspora, Langary embarks on the task of describing the social structures of Afghanistan, precisely, the role of women within the Afghan social fabric. This study covers the various policies aimed at women, marriage, and emancipation from the ascendency of Amir Aman Allah Khan to the Kabul throne in 1919 until the establishment of President Hamid Karzai's representative government. This study sheds light on the lives of the Afghan women who have migrated to the United States through means of marriage. The fieldwork was conducted in various cities across California. These women share their marriage experiences, life in the United States, and resiliency of overcoming challenges. This qualitative research is now integrated with the broader phenomena of "arranged marriages," "consanguineous marriages," "mail-order bride," and "patriarchal family structures."

Through years of Taliban oppression, during the US-led invasion and the current insurgency, women in Afghanistan have played a hugely symbolic role. This book looks at how women have fought repression and challenged stereotypes, both within Afghanistan and in diasporas in Iran, Pakistan, the US and the UK. Looking at issues from violence under the Taliban and the impact of 9/11 to the role of NGOs and the growth in the opium economy, Rostami-Povey gets behind the media hype and presents a vibrant and diverse picture of these women's lives. The future of women's rights in Afghanistan, she argues, depends not only on overcoming local male domination, but also on challenging imperial domination and blurring the growing divide between the West and the Muslim world. Ultimately, these global dynamics may pose a greater threat to the freedom and autonomy of women in Afghanistan and throughout the world.

Afghanistan and its people, whether in Afghanistan or in its global diaspora, have generated substantial interest and the desire to understand more about the country is widely felt. This title contains chapters on a wide range of issues, which contribute to our understandings of modern Afghanistan.

This book focuses on education and Afghan women in the pre-Taliban period, under the Taliban and today. More specifically, it explores the educational prospects for women under and following the fall of the Taliban, the significant improvements that have been achieved during the past few years and the challenges that still lie ahead. Against this background, concepts such as education, empowerment and personal development are discussed, as well as the progress and the challenges that women in Afghanistan will face in the event of the Taliban returning to power. This publication offers a unique, original and current insight into the world of Afghan women, encompassing contributions from academics, journalists and civil society advocates.

Even though the people of Afghanistan in general suffered under the rule of the Taliban, women lived especially difficult lives, enduring terrible hardships. They were denied basic human rights, forced to wear veils and kept in seclusion. This work addresses the religion, revolution, and national identity of Afghan women and places them within their gender-political and religious-political roles, thus elevating our understanding of their abuse, imprisonment and murder, and offering a basis for their rehabilitation. Powerful and moving interviews with Afghan women conducted and translated by the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan are presented and a brief history of the struggle of the Afghan women and an overview of the conflict between the Afghans and the Taliban are included.

Afghan Women's Resistance and Struggle in Afghanistan and Diasporic Communities, 2004-2005 aimed to develop a better understanding of Afghan women's resistance to war and violent conflicts; their engagement with multiple worlds as refugees or living in exile, their struggle for survival and/or their acquisition of new knowledge and power. The study investigated the vast diversity (class, age, ethnicity, religion) of women's experiences in the process of historical changes (in times of war and conflict, in exile and in times of peace making) and the different ways they emerge as autonomous agents and construct their identities, in culturally specific circumstances. The research assessed the gendered nature of social exclusion, and the importance of women's inclusion in the processes of reconstruction and peace making. Semi-structured interviews were used to study Afghan women (and some men) in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, UK and USA. Respondents were chosen to represent a sample of diverse groups (students, teachers, non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) workers, United Nations (UN) workers, journalists, women and men in refugee camps) according to their religiosity, ethnicity, age, marital status, fertility rate, class, citizenship status, employment status and political, social and cultural activities. Detailed demographic information about each respondent is recorded in the data listing. To obtain a free account, register with the UKDA.

One in three women around the world has faced violence. More often than not, this violence comes from an intimate partner or a member of their families- making the home one of the least safe places for women. In Afghanistan, 87% of women have said they've faced verbal, physical or sexual violence at home. These statistics are staggering and behind them are real women struggling with violence and intimidation and the trauma they bring. This is especially tragic in a country where there is a systematic effort to keep women at home and prevent their economic empowerment, legal barriers to women seeking justice, divorce, and custody, and rampant sexism that stigmatizes women survivors of sexualized violence. A short guide written by Free Women Writers, a grassroots collective of volunteer Afghan women students and writers, hopes to help women in Afghanistan through providing practical tips for seeking legal aid, forming networks of support, and protecting their mental health. The guide is unprecedented for the country. It includes discussions culturally-taboo issues such as marital rape and extra marital relationships and separates myths about the drivers of violence from the reality. More importantly, it tells women survivors of violence that they are not alone and it is not their fault. The guide has been written after four years of research, conversations with survivors of violence, and a study of the country's civil laws and the Elimination of Violence against Women Act of 2009.