Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: Gender

Gender

What Do Young Afghan Women Do? A glimpse into everyday life after the bans

Jelena Bjelica AAN Team

Since coming to power, the Taleban authorities have issued many edicts, decrees, declarations and directives limiting, restricting, suspending or banning basic freedoms for women and girls. Afghan women are no longer free to go to public parks, gyms and other public spaces and are banned from boarding planes and leaving the country on their own; they cannot […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more
A wedding hall in Kabul, August 2022. The age of first marriage had been rising in Afghanistan. However, increasing numbers of child marriages, driven by economic distress, are being reported. Photo: Daniel Leal/AFP.

Living in a Collapsed Economy (4): The desperation and guilt of giving a young daughter in marriage 

Ali Mohammad Sabawoon

The collapse of the economy has led families across Afghanistan to make desperate decisions, including giving young daughters in marriage in exchange for a bride price. AAN interviewed four fathers who spoke about the pressures of debt and the emotional turmoil and guilt that surrounded the decision.

Economy, Development, Environment Read more
A decorated car often accompanies the bride as she travels from her parent’s house to the house of new in-laws. In this wedding in the Ibrahimzi area of Deh Yak district in Ghazni province, the bride price was 11,000 US dollars. (Author’s photo: 2014)

The Bride Price: The Afghan tradition of paying for wives

Fazl Rahman Muzhary

Weddings are hugely expensive affairs in Afghanistan, with excessive costs for wedding halls, lavish meals and usually a bride price. The bride price is the money paid by the groom’s family for the bride to her family. It is a contested tradition that is viewed as having no foundation in Islamic law and does not […]

Context and Culture Read more

Elections 2014 (52): The not yet officially announced results – electoral maths with unknowns

Thomas Ruttig

After over five months, Afghanistan has finally an election result … kind of. In a remarkable step, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the winner of the run-off on 21 September 2014, but did not release the results – apparently one of Abdullah’s unbending conditions for reaching a final agreement on the national unity government. […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN’s Sari Kouvo at the joint conference by Women for Women International and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – January 2014

Sari Kouvo

The conference brought together evidence and experience from leading financial institutions, NGOs, entrepreneurs, researchers and civil society to explore the impact of ‘laws in the books’ and ‘laws in action’ on the economic opportunities and empowerment of women, for example barriers in access to finance.

Podcasts Read more