2 Afghanistan
of reconstruction, especially after the most recent conflicts
since 2001 with the United States, and further issues with
the Taliban. Many women continue to focus on economic
opportunities and closely examine any possibilities of
financial support.
According to the Gender Equality Project II (GEP-II)
in Afghanistan, which seeks to further gender equality
and female empowerment, signs of progress have become
more visible as time goes on (Priya 2014). However, any
initiatives attempting to better social, economic, and polit-
ical opportunities for Afghan women still have a long way
to go. Literacy rates are drastically low; vulnerability in
the workforce limits women’s participation economically;
and incidents of violence are seldom reported because
of deeply ingrained religious and cultural norms and the
fear of violating these norms. With consistent effort, the
women of Afghanistan are making great strides in their
recovery from the overall deleterious results of political
upheaval in the last three decades.
Girls and Teens
Life for young women in Afghanistan is still bleak because
of extreme Taliban mandates that have limited their life-
styles in comparison to those of their male counterparts.
Literacy rates are drastically low among Afghan girls, and
any push to improve these rates is too recent to display
huge increases. Girls’ opportunities to grow up and seize
their individuality are harshly restricted by the common
practice of child marriage. The progress that both world-
wide humanitarian organizations and domestic resistance
efforts aim to make is slow moving but highly necessary;
girls and young adult women in Afghanistan are only
beginning to receive widespread acceptance of their rights.
Opportunities for Literacy, Schooling,
and Recreation
UNICEF’s 2010–2011 Afghanistan Multiple Indicator
Cluster Survey (AMICS) examines several fields regarding
the quality of life of Afghan men, women, and children.
Because of the gender discrepancies in Afghan society,
AMICS gives perspectives specifically focused on chil-
dren’s experiences and highlights any unequal differences
between women and men.
Early on, many Afghan children are at a disadvantage to
attaining literacy. AMICS data report that only 2 percent of
children under the age of 5 reside with families that own
3 or more children’s books. The percent of children who
have access to 10 or more books is negligible.
Although there is no variance in accessibility between
households with male or female children, the influence
of gender inequity becomes evident when one focuses
on parental involvement. The mother’s educational level
affects the likelihood of her children’s exposure to reading
material. When examining families in which the mother
has received an education at the secondary level or higher,
11 percent of children have 3 or more books. In compar-
ison, only 2 percent of children in families in which the
mother has no education have 3 or more books.
Young women aged 15 to 24 had their literacy assessed
by AMICS. The results of the survey show that one in five
women is literate. There is a great discrepancy between
urban and rural as well as wealthy and working-class fam-
ilies; the greater a woman’s accessibility to education due
to her socioeconomic standing or geographic location, the
more likely she is to be literate, in some cases by a fac-
tor of 10. Likewise, data collected reflecting the frequency
of children attending school show a positive correlation
What Is “Middle East”?
The term “Middle East” is problematic, in part,
because it is viewed as a geographical term, and that
is inaccurate. The boundaries of the Middle East
have frequently changed since the term was coined
in the early 1900s. At that time, it referred to the
Gulf of Aden and India, but the term “Middle East”
has been applied differently and more broadly than
that. It is not used uniformly across nations, aca-
demic fields, or time. It is more of a political term
than a geographical one.
The Middle East’s geographic boundaries change
as the world’s (especially the global superpowers’)
politics change (e.g., 9/11 for the United States).
Given the global superpowers’ ability to define the
boundaries of the Middle East as they see fit in cur-
rent political climates, the term implies a distinct
imperialistic use of “Middle East.” Language gives
power and dominance. It is perhaps most reasona-
ble to give the Arab region power to name its own
region. Currently, Arabs divide their region into the
subcategories of the Levant, the Mashriq, and the
Maghreb. Imposing our labels on their countries is
a current version of imperialism.
—ReGina E. Kaylor
