The Plain Dealer, October 26, 1999
GROUP FIGHTING FOR AFGHAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS
By EVELYN THEISS; PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
Kathleen DeCredico-McKenna of Lakewood saw activist Mavis Leno on the "Today Show" last Monday. She heard her describe the plight of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.
She called Everywoman to ask, "What can I do?" So we called the Feminist Majority Foundation, a leading national women's rights organization working on gender apartheid, to find out.
Katherine Spillar, national coordinator for the foundation, said: "Afghanistan was a country that respected human rights, that was most modern in terms of women's roles. Overnight, it went back into the 13th century."
Mavis Leno, the wife of "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno and longtime board member of the foundation, has become one of the most active leaders on the issue.
Spillar said the reason so many American women are concerned and want to help is this: "If a government anywhere can get away with this, if other governments like the U.S. would recognize a government that treats its women and daughters this way, women nowhere are safe."
On Sept. 27, 1996, the Taliban, an extremist militia, seized control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, and began stripping women and girls of basic human rights.
This occurred in a country whose women were educated and employed. At Kabul University, 50 percent of students and 60 percent of teachers were women. In Kabul, women were 70 percent of the school teachers, 50 percent of civilian government workers and 40 percent of the doctors.
Now, they are not permitted to leave their homes unless accompanied by a close male relative; when they have left unescorted, they have been shot at and beaten. When women are out of their homes, they must be covered from head to toe in a "burqa," with only a mesh opening to see and breathe through.
Homes with women must have windows painted opaque, so the women inside cannot be seen from the street. Girls older than 8 are not allowed to attend school. Women's access to medical services has been severely restricted. Male doctors are not allowed to treat women, and female doctors must be veiled and can treat only women.
Spillar said that while the Taliban claim to follow fundamentalist Islamic ideology, within Islam, women are allowed to earn and control their own money, and to participate in public life. In fact, the 55-member Organization of Islamic Conference has refused to recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan's official government.
Since the news of the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women, the Feminist Majority Foundation has been asking the United States and the United Nations to help restore women's rights in Afghanistan.
There have been successes, Spillar said. The foundation sent scores of petitions asking the White House and State Department to delay recognizing the Taliban government, which they have.
In December, the American oil company Unocal withdrew plans to build a pipeline through Afghanistan, citing pressure from feminist groups, specifically the Feminist Majority Foundation.
But the foundation, whose president is Eleanor Smeal, former head of the National Organization for Women, wants the United States and U.N. to increase pressure on the Taliban through economic sanctions and other means.
It is asking all women to help and providing them with packets on how to do so.
Here's what you can do:
1) Send an e-mail to U.S. government officials and the U.N. from the Feminist Majority Web site http://www.feminist.org
2) Order a "Take Action" kit by sending an e-mail to femajority at feminist.org
3) Call 1-888-93-WOMEN to order the 15-minute video documentary "Shroud of Silence" about the Taliban's human rights abuses and ways to end gender apartheid. Share it with friends, relatives or students.
4) Wear a swatch, a symbol of the plight of Afghan women. Each swatch is made from the material on the burqa's mesh-covered opening. You can order the swatch from the foundation. Half of the $5 contribution goes to the campaign; half goes to Afghan women in refugee camps.
5) Fax or e-mail your concerns to the president, secretary of state, members of Congress or the U.N. secretary-general.
President Bill Clinton, e-mail: president at whitehouse.gov
fax: (202) 456-2461;
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, e-mail:
fax: (202) 261-8577;
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, no e-mail, fax: (202) 963-4879.
6) Send an online postcard to friends, family and colleagues from the Web site.
7) Purchase Afghan Women's Crafts through the Web site. All the money goes to the women who created the crafts.
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