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Thanks
for your note to FEMINIST.COM.
Your note arrived right in the
midst of at least a dozen others
from specifically younger women
who were asking how they can
help with the situation for
women and girls in Afghanistan.
So, you are certainly not alone
in wanting to change this situation.
I'm assuming that although you
are Afghan, you are currently
residing somewhere else.
In terms of what to do--in this
country, the organization doing
the most work around attempting
to end the gender based discrimination
going on as a result of the
Taliban's rule--is the Feminist
Majority Foundation. It
seems that the two things that
get promoted as what to do--are
1.) to sign petitions and 2.)
to put pressure on the U.S.
Department of State to do more
intense interventions. So, you
should certainly do these things
-- (You can contact the Feminist
Majority at: www.feminist.org
and I'm sure the state department
has a website, thought I don't
know what it is--try their women's
office.)
Most
importantly--and based on something
that you said in your note--I
think that you ought to try
to use this situation to shed
light on issues that might be
affecting your own community.
Though it's unlikely that the
situation is as grave as it
is currently in Afghanistan--it
is likely that in your community
there is some level of gender
discrimination going on. For
instance, at your school--do
the girls' sports teams get
the same attention (and money
and playing time) as the boys;
does the local newspaper cast
women's issues as "secondary"--for
instance, do they even cover
what is happening in Afghanistan?
Yet, they certainly cover the
Yankees and the Mets. Hopefully,
this will triger your mind.
Thanks again for writing and
for your concern. Let me know
if I can be of any further assistance
-- good luck.
—Amy
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