詹妮弗Fluri教授, 女权主义政治地理学家, notes that the growing restrictions on 女性 和 girls are echoing strictness not seen since the 1990s

在大学演讲.N. Headquarters in New York City Monday, Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep observed that household pets 和 rodents in 阿富汗 have more rights than 女性 under draconian new Taliban laws rolled out at the end of August.

“Today in Kabul, a female cat has more freedoms than a woman,” Streep said. “A cat may go sit on her front stoop 和 feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in 阿富汗 today, because the public parks have been closed to 女性 和 girls.”

在其他限制中, the new laws ban 女性 from reciting the Quran in public, raising their voices or looking at men other than their husb和s or relatives, 和 they require all 女性 to cover the lower halves of their faces in addition to covering their heads.

为 詹妮弗Fluri, a 博彩平台推荐 professor of geography 和 chair of the 地理系, these newest laws—the latest in a steadily growing number of restrictions on 女性 enacted since the Taliban regained power in 2021—are further evidence that for the Taliban, 女性容易成为攻击目标.

Fluri’s doctoral research focused on the Revolutionary Association of the Women of 阿富汗 (RAWA), a cl和estine feminist-nationalist organization. 从那, her research interests evolved to studying the differentiated methods used by Afghans 和 internationals in 阿富汗 to provide for their own security in spaces increasingly beset by political violence 和 a general state of insecurity.

2012年至2021年, she worked on two projects focusing on 女性's social 和 political activism, influence 和 power in 阿富汗: One examined 女性's roles in the peace process in 阿富汗, 和 the second focused on 女性's leadership 和 influence at different scales, from home 和 family to national political participation 和 governance—a project funded by the National Science Foundation.

然而, despite her deep experience in the country, she hasn’t been able to travel there since 2019—first because of COVID restrictions 和 then because of those enacted by the Taliban—和 has pivoted her research focus to Afghan refugees 和 asylum seekers in the United States 和 Canada, along with the status of 女性's rights 和 their social, political 和 economic participation in 阿富汗.

Fluri最近接受了采访 科罗拉多艺术与科学杂志 about the newest laws further restricting Afghan girls 和 女性 in education, movement 和 presence in public spaces.

问题: Since 2021, restrictions on 女性 和 girls in 阿富汗 have gotten steadily stricter. How much worse are these new laws going to make their lives?

Fluri这对女性来说是一个巨大的打击, 尤其是城市地区的妇女, who had become more used to traveling with just a head scarf, 不用穿罩袍, 没有男伴. As we get further 和 further from August 2021, the leaders are being more 和 more emboldened to go back to the ‘90s version of the Taliban. At first it seemed like they were going to be more moderate, a sort of Taliban 2.我甚至以为是这样的, 和 so did a lot of 女性’s organizations 和 feminist activists—but now it’s looking pretty clear they’re going to keep cracking down more 和 more.

我也对美国政府的政策持批评态度.S.  已经做了. 我不认为你.S. officials really took the full time 和 energy they should have to really do right by Afghan 女性 和 girls. It’s such a diverse population—educated urban 女性 have a totally different experience than 女性 in rural areas or 女性 who are more conservative. Some 女性 see Islamic feminism as a path, but even Islamic feminists can’t work with the Taliban. (The Taliban’s) reading of Islam is so narrow, even though the Quran says 女性 和 men are equal before God.

问题: These new laws seem really petty, for lack of a better word; why are the Taliban doing this?

Fluri对我来说，这是一条愚蠢的法律. It’s culturally expected that men 和 女性 don’t make eye contact—it's a sign of respect—that putting it into law seems unnecessary. It’s just another way of controlling 女性. I think this is the Taliban wanting all 女性 to follow their very strict interpretations of the Quran 和 to gather control 和 power, because this law undercuts family-based or community-based ways of thinking about how people want to express religious beliefs or cultural beliefs, 以及如何着装或在公共场合露面. I hate to say it, but for the Taliban, 女性容易成为攻击目标.

问题: Do you worry that this will further stoke anti-Muslim rhetoric that seems to be getting louder around the world?

Fluri: My biggest frustration with the international aid 和 development community has been this tendency to blame Islam. 伊斯兰教不是问题所在. Women have more rights in Islam than they do in Afghan cultural practice. If the Taliban were following Islam, 女性 would have many more rights, especially around education. 穆罕默德的第一任妻子, Khadijah, who he had his only surviving children with, 在外工作. 她是他(穆罕默德)的雇主. 有很多女性的例子, if you go back to the early days of Islam, who were involved in shaping the faith. Khadijah was the first convert to Islam, 和 Muhammad’s wife Aisha led men in battle 和 was the author of many hadiths (words 和 deeds attributed to the prophet Muhammad written by his closest interlocutors). Women were involved in the early formations of Islam.

问题: Do the Revolutionary Association of the Women of 阿富汗 和 other feminist groups like it still exist, or have they had to flee the country?

Fluri他们还在运作, but it’s always been a mostly underground movement—they believe in secularism 和 女性’s rights—和 now it’s even deeper underground. They’re doing work similar to work they were doing in the ‘90s: documenting, trying to get more international attention to the plight of 女性 和 running secret schools. 在阿富汗, their names have been dragged through the mud 100 times over, so they really do have to be incredibly careful. I would argue that’s why they have started other organizations in other names, because it allows them to continue to do the work without having such intense surveillance 和 them constantly being in danger of arrest.

我从来没有发表过这方面的文章, because it’s not something they would be happy with, but I would argue RAWA has lot more influence in society than we even know about. Women have been educated in RAWA schools; they’ve started their own NGOs 和 different activist groups with RAWA support. The feminist philosophies of RAWA have kind of grown legs 和 created additional organizations. A lot of 女性 who were very high-profile activists in 阿富汗 have fled or sought asylum, 但有些人已经回去了. They’re working with colleagues or family members to continue to do that work, even though it’s incredibly difficult now.

一个和我共事多年的人, who worked as a driver for me 和 research assistant, I’m still trying to help his family 和 him seek asylum. He’s saying, ‘My daughters have no future here.’ It’s interesting how a number of men are also starting to be like, ‘This isn’t a good place for my daughters.’

问题: Is there anything people in, say, Colorado can do to help Afghan 女性 和 girls?

Fluri:诚实, what I would say is reach out in your community to find out where Afghans who are refugees, who are trying to figure out how to make America work for them, 生活. Help them make their way, which is incredibly difficult. It’s such a different culture from the U.S. 和 people sometimes have an idealistic vision of the U.S. The reality of trying to make ends meet can be so hard for them. So, I would say reach out to your nearest refugee center. 我知道 路德家庭服务 does a lot of work with refugees, 和 so does 犹太家庭服务 和 科罗拉多难民联络中心. Even just the local housing 和 human services does a lot of work to help resettle refugees.

接触志愿者, such as taking people to appointments, little things like that make such a huge difference. A lot of 女性 who came don’t speak English, 别开, so their lives are more isolated here than they were in 阿富汗. When you don’t speak the language or know how to ride a bus in a new place, it can be really daunting just to figure out how to make it work for you 和 your family. The important thing is to look for organizations that are working with Afghans on their own terms 和 are not trying to tell people what’s best for them. 阿富汗人知道什么对他们最好.

Top image: Women in traditional burqas walk past Hazrat Ali Mazar Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, 阿富汗. (照片: Wasim Mirzaie)

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