Women In A Thousand Splendid Suns

1180 Words5 Pages
The Taliban, until 2001, executed the strictest form of Sharia law ever seen in the modern world. These ‘religious police’ would stone those that committed adultery, and sever the hands of thieves. They would beat any man who shaved or any woman not wearing her burqa properly. Women were also forbidden to work, wear anything revealing, and were prohibited to be in public without a male family member (a mahram). Adding to that, women were not allowed to speak or shake hands with non-mahrams. In l998, the Taliban ordered all the Kabul windows blackened so women could not be seen inside their homes. Women also couldn’t; appear on their balconies, be on television, appear on the radio, attend gatherings, laugh loudly, wear high heels, gather for…show more content…
The story follows Mariam, an illegitimate child from a successful businessman. She, like many young girls, was forced to marry at a young age. The book shows the first person view (as Marian) the abuse, both physical and verbal that many women endured. The story then moves to another girl, Laila. The Afghani war against the Soviets upsets Laila's childhood, Laila's parents decide to leave Afghanistan, but as they are packing a rocket hits their house, killing Laila's parents and hurting her. Mariam and her abusive husband (Rasheed) nurse her back to health. Laila agrees to marry Rasheed, this fragment of the book showed have common polygamy was. Laila is surprised to see Tariq, a guy she loved and was told that he died. Mariam kills Rasheed, after being beat by a shovel, and turns herself over to the Taliban. Laila and Tariq marry, and Mariam is executed. The entire book is a great illustration of the struggle of women during this time and to pick mere examples would be nearly…show more content…
Although official statistics are hard to come by, figures from the World Bank in 2007 say that up to 36% of girls were enrolled in school. Some women even began careers and businesses for themselves. A survey by the Central Statistics Oranisation (CSO) in 2009 found that women were being employed by the government quicker than men. They were also being hired as policewomen and by the military. In 2003, after the U.S. invasion into Iraq, a 36-year-old man calling himself “the Stranger”, soon to be known widely as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, came to Iraq with the idea of uniting the Sunni Muslims in the Middle East. Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006, leaving his followers leaderless and what previously known as ‘al-Qaeda in Iraq’ (The Stranger’s group), now became known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS is believed to have thousands of extremist fighters (seen as terrorists) today, and are recruiting from around the world (not just the Middle
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