Afghan Legislation urges women’s rights forward

Afghan Legislation urges women’s rights forward
Alesia Mason
Soc 202
In this article, a young woman told about how she had to leave her son because she ran away from her husband whom she married at eleven even though they didn’t like each other. The only way she knew she could leave her husband was because her friends mentioned it and then she saw a TV show that mentioned women’s rights. The really sad part was that there is a law to “protect” women. But the wording for the law basically made it seem like that it was a woman’s fault for rape and that those who were raped could be charged for adultery. In addition, the law still says it’s okay for a man to withdraw financial support if his wife doesn’t have sex with him and restricts how much a woman can leave her home. Plus, the law only affects the Shiite community which is a small percentage of all of Afghanistan and with the passage of this law, the Sunni people still have their own laws. This law has been “watered down” which means that while there are protections, the punishments aren’t as harsh as they should be.
This article for me is the continuation of the one I did last week. It really seems like that more and more women around the world are getting rights but at a cost. It’s like we take one step forward and two back because the laws aren’t really benefiting people like they should. I found it interesting that the woman in the story knew she couldn’t go back home because she’d be killed or forced back to her husband and that she didn’t press charges. I really feel bad that her son will grow up without his mom. It’s really sad about the situation over there but it’s not just happening in Afghanistan but all over the world.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091001/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_protecting_women_1