Before I cover the events that inspired this article I will start off with a disclaimer that I am a man and thankfully my personal experience with gender violence is nil, but the following story made me think about all the various ways that women are mistreated in the world, both near and far.
Zahra was a school girl in Afghanistan who, after her father wished to marry again, had her education halted and treated as a part of the dowry for her father’s remarriage. Fast forward to this week, Zahra is at 14, pregnant and hospitalized with burns covering most of her body which eventually killed her. Her father insists her husband’s family murdered her while they insist that she self-immolated. This is not an article about Afghan culture that I am mostly unaware of, rather it is the realization that Zahra’s story is not unusual as child marriages still occur in many parts of the world at the cost of many girls like Zahra’s education.
There is also the violence aspect, and that happens in every corner of the world. Women are raped and murdered or in this case, they die in awful circumstances like Zahra (it hasn’t been proven yet that her in-laws were abusive but the fact that she was married off at 11 abhors me enough). I catch myself wondering how many more women have their dreams of education or making something greater of themselves dashed this way and it makes me sad, and angry. Because if we truly believe in universal rights for all people as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we shouldn’t treat women this way. We shouldn’t treat women as though they are objects. I have held these beliefs before today but seeing this story reinforced them. I hope that Zahra’s death will not be in vain and will lead to some comprehensive legal changes, not just in Afghanistan but in the world. Because although as far as I know women cannot be married off at 11 in the United States, they still make about 25% less in wages at least which is also unacceptable. The world needs to treat women as people, not because they are our friends and family but because they are people.
