In Afghanistan, a growing number of women, primarily aged 10-40,
attempt to flee lives of hopelessness and despair by setting themselves
on fire.
It is difficult to accurately estimate the number of Afghan women
and girls who attempt to kill themselves with petrol and a match.
Anywhere from one hundred to several hundred cases of self-immolation have been reported each year since 2002. A New York Times article reports that in 2004 the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
recorded 40 cases in six months in the city of Herat alone. These
reported numbers are exceptionally low, however, because families often
hide the incident or try to lie about the method of death.
Reported cases are almost entirely of those who survive, even
briefly, and find themselves being treated in a local burn unit. Yet
even these women often attempt to lie about their wounds, insisting the
incident was accidental. The staff at the burn unit in Herat's Regional
Medical Center have learned to discern the truth. Fuel-soaked clothing
and little evidence of an attempt to stifle flames strongly point to
self-infliction. Dr. Ghafar Bawar, a plastic surgeon who consults at
the unit, explains
"When an accident happens, they
try to stop it. In self-inflicted burns, a high percentage of the body
surface area is affected. When it is more than 40 per cent of body
surface area burnt . . . it's usually self-inflicted."
For many western readers, it's hard to understand what would drive
these women, many of them teens, to commit such a desperate and
agonizing act. It's important to recognize Afghanistan's deep-seated
culture of female oppression and the utter lack of options perceived by
most women.
Many Afghan women, especially in rural villages, live in a state of
near slavery. They are kept uneducated and have little or no control
over the most basic aspects of their lives.
Forced into marriage as a young teen, (the youngest reported case of
self-immolation was a nine year old child), to a man possibly decades
older, an Afghan girl must obey not only her new husband but any of his
male or female relatives. She endures daily beatings and other, often
sexual, abuses. She cannot read or write and has been prohibited from
learning a valuable skill or trade. All she knows of the world is what
she has been told, and what she is told cultivates hopelessness,
humiliation, and the constant threat of violence. Even her own voice is
useless to her. If she speaks out she earns only ridicule or further
punishment.
Where can she turn? A few girls
are lucky enough to learn of a shelter for abused women and child
brides, though even fewer are able to escape. Illiterate and isolated,
most women have no idea that any escape is possible. In their minds,
they have nothing.
No courts, no police, no divorce, no justice, no escape.
When the Taliban were toppled and Hamid Karzai took power at the end
of 2001, it seemed Afghan women would enjoy a life of more freedom and
stability. Unfortunately, many women live under nearly the same
oppression, humiliation, and violence that they suffered under the
Taliban.
Let's take a closer look at the reality of life for most Afghan
women, shaped drastically by recent Taliban rule and related gender
beliefs which, for too many, still linger.
Life Under the Taliban
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan, through continued insurgency and civil war, from 1996 until nearly 2002.
Under Taliban rule, Afghan women were oppressed in literally every aspect of their lives. In what has been referred to as gender apartheid,
women were placed under house arrest, denied the ability to work or
gain an education, and required to shield themselves from all males
except very close relatives. The windows of her home were painted
black, lest an innocently passing male catch a forbidden glimpse, and
she could not leave her home at all unless escorted by a close male
relative and sheathed in full burqa. When outside the home, she was
careful to both speak and step softly, lest her presence be seductively
audible to strange males.
Any woman who had lost all male relatives in the years of ongoing conflict was literally trapped in her home.
Unable to seek medical treatment from doctors who, under Taliban
rule, were necessarily all male, women frequently died of treatable
ailments.
Anyone caught defying the new laws risked public beating and
execution. Speaking too loudly or or inadvertently flashing an ankle or
wrist earned a woman a public lashing. Women caught unattended outside
their homes, assumed to be attempting to flee, were often stoned to
death. Women in the presence of a non-related male were charged with
adultery and hanged.
Today...
In 2002, when the Taliban lost control of Afghanistan's central
government, the lives of many Afghan women brightened. For the most
part, educated, urban women returned to work or school and as their
country worked to rebuild itself, they strove to reclaim their lives.
Unfortunately, Afghan women in poor, rural areas, continue to live
under the same oppression and abuse as before. While Taliban law is no
longer in effect, many rural areas are governed by tribal law, which
remains uninfluenced by the Afghan government. In many territories, warlords rule
with impunity and throughout the nation societal norms give males full
dominance over women, who are treated with violence and contempt on a
daily basis.
Three women initially held positions in President Kazai's cabinet,
however all have since been replaced by males, including the Minister
of Women's Affairs. A 2006 article in the Christian Science Monitor explains
Women's inclusion in Afghanistan's
government, which the international community has been using as an
indicator of democratic progress, is actually regressing. The interim
Supreme Court has consistently sided with conservatives [...] It has
issued bans on women singing on television... and upheld the marriage
of a 9-year-old girl, even though Afghan law sets marriageable age at
16.
Afghan women are repeatedly denied equal
access to legal representation and due process. Nearly 80 percent of
the women in prison have been convicted of zina, engaging in sexual
activity outside marriage. But the majority of those convicted were
simply trying to escape domestic abuse and seek refuge outside their
oppressive households.
The reality of life for many rural Afghan women is one of utter
helplessness. Once forced into marriage, an Afghan female loses the
ability to determine what she does, or where she goes, in some cases
ever. Daily beatings are common, as are psychological humiliation and
degradation. Rape perpetrated by a husband is not considered abnormal,
let alone a crime.
Afghanistan's groundbreaking 2004 presidential election was a passing irrelevance for most Afghan women. According to a 2007 UNIFEM fact sheet,
- 87% of Afghans believed that a woman needed a male relatives authorization to vote.
- 35% of women believed they would not have permission to vote.
- 18% of men admitted they would not allow they wives to vote.
Additionally,
- 70-80% of Afghan women face forced marriages
- 57% of Afghan girls are married before the legal marriage age of sixteen.
Why Fire?
Although self-immolation seems to be one of the most abhorrent
choices for suicide, it is, for many, the only choice. Although some
find access to poisons, most have no way of going outside the home for
any needed materials. Other available options, such as wrist cutting or
hanging, are not fool-proof enough for their intentions. Fire, they
believe, is absolute.
Medica Modiale,
an organization dedicated to aiding women in war zones and areas of
crisis, conducted the first report on self-immolation in Afghan women.
They found:
Self-immolation as a method
of committing suicide is so frequent because women feel they have no
alternative. They can never leave the house and have no access to
medicaments. However, there is flammable material in contrast in every
kitchen.
Medica Modiale's Nabila Wafiq told the Washington Post
"When we asked most people why
they committed self-immolation, they said that when they take pills,
they don't die, but when they commit self-immolation they believe they
will die, 100 percent."
Additionally, women are drawn to fire by the opportunity for
retribution it presents. An overwhelming atmosphere of shame and
dishonor surround the families of those who choose to who
self-immolate. This actually contributes to the death-rate of these
suicide attempts, as most women die because they are not immediately
taken to the hospital, or not taken at all.
The fact that it is difficult to lie about the method of death,
often leaves abusive families with an intended stigma. Unfortunately,
this motive backfires on a woman who survives. The shame of her act
often means total isolation and neglect.
Wafiq also asserts that the trend is growing, in part, because of
news reports of suicide by self-immolation, which fail to mention the
tortured survivors of the act, or those who take agonizing days to
finally die.
Journalist Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, speaking to RAWA (The Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) about "Lifting the Veil", her documentary on the experiences of Afghan women, explains
There are many ways to die – you
can take poison or jump in a river. But I think that if those women had
died in that way, it would have been easy for the men of the family to
cover it up, saying she had a heart attack, or she fell down or
something.
But if you pour kerosene on yourself and you
light a match, you're making a statement. You're saying look at me, I
am in pain, I am in misery, I am not going to die quietly, I am making
a point.
In Their Words...
17-year old Fazela:
"My name is Fazela. On that
particular day when I burned myself, my husband -- who is also my
cousin -- had a fight with me," she recalls. "He beat me. And after I
was beaten, I poured kerosene over myself. Then I lit myself on fire.
Before this, I really wanted to leave this house. But he took my burqa
and did not let me go outside of the house. Now I really regret that I
burned myself."
-- Radio Free Europe RadioLiberty
16-year old survivor describes the moments leading up to her self-immolation
"When he did not have access to
heroin and narcotics, he tortured me. After midnight he would hit me.
That night he hit me and hit my head. Blood was coming from my nose. I
asked him why he was doing it and he hit me even more."
-- BBC News 11/15/06
How You Can Help
Donate to the Afghan Women's Mission and you can specify how you want your dollars spent - general fund, education, awareness, etc... They also have pledge program, volunteer info, and more...
The Feminist Majority Foundation runs a campaign entitled Help Afghan Women. They make it quick and easy to petition the US government, spread the word to friends and colleagues, join an action team, and of course, donate.
RAWA has a range of specific donation needs
- used digital cameras, school supplies, medical supplies. They also
have all sorts of other ideas of how you can help - from translating
articles to arranging photo exhibits. Of course you can always write
awareness letters or just send some cash! Check it out.
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