An Afghan Wife Essay Example

An Afghan Wife Essay Example An Afghan Wife Essay An Afghan Wife Essay Most of Afghanistan is a backward place with the old of traditional tribal leaders. Afghanistan saw steps being taken towards the emancipation of women after the Russian occupation. Traditionalists disliked the government installed in the socialist period and with US support, Russians were evicted from Russia by traditionalist leaders such as Taliban. The fundamentalist Taliban government put the clock back by a thousand year confining the women to their homes. Blaming Taliban for the plight of women would be wrong, as the traditional Afghan society has always suppressed women.The women role as wife is confined to house hold work and rearing children. The situation after American invasion of Afghanistan has not changed at all and the society has reverted to the practices of pre-Russian control period. Afghanistan is a symbol of repression for women and the situation is unlikely to improve until the hold of tribal leaders is liquidated. Unfortunately, after the US invasion of Afghanistan the role of these tribal leaders has become even stronger. There is a clear need to improve the status of women in South Asia and Middle East. Women in Muslim countries have a lot of ground to make up to reach gender equality.A World Bank Report shows that through out the world women have not achieved equal status with men. Figure-1 shows the comparison given in this report [World Bank, 2000]. Developed countries of Europe, America and Eastern Europe are well ahead of the rest of the world in achieving gender equality but women have not achieved equality with men anywhere in the world [World Bank, 2000]. This may appear to be rather suffocating but family is an important component of life in the subcontinent. The values taught form early childhood and reinforced by practical example of the parents and extended family.Even if the family leaves the restrictive cultural environment of Indian subcontinent and moves to a developed country where these social and economic compulsions are not present, most women of Indian Muslim families respect the traditions of strong families and with the financial security of the developed country still maintain strong family bonds and traditional values. The high rate of divorces, the psychological effects on children of broken families and loosening of the family bond in developed world is often presented as a negative impact of gender equality in traditional societies. Discussion ConclusionsRole of a wife in various cultures has been changing continuously. In the old days when education was not common or compulsory, the society was male dominated even in the western society. Compulsory education of women was the first step towards demand for decent right for women. The hold of religion also became weak and women increasingly became more independent in expressing her views in the family matters. As the desire to improve standard of living made it necessary for both men and women to work, the economic independence brought a western wife mush more say in managing family affairs.There is no doubt that with improved education among women and availability of employment opportunities will give women more say in managing their family. The campaign for gender equality in the world and 500-channel visual world of television will only accelerate the pace of this change. This change is necessary but the challenge for women is to assert their right in managing family affair without the arrogance of breaking the family unit apart.Bibliography1. Aboriginal Women, (2007), [Online] retrieved from Internet on 27 January 2007, http://abcnews.go.com/International.