A Portrait of Afghan Women's Lives: Challenges and Opportunities

The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent overthrow of the Taliban were often framed as a mission to save Afghan women from violent oppression. Eleven years later, have the circumstances of ordinary Afghan women improved? Have well-meaning policies and programs, imposed by international donors, improved Afghan women's lives? And what is the outlook for women in Afghanistan as the Taliban regain power and the international forces begin their withdrawal?

Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women, recently published by UC Press, captures the voices of Afghan women themselves. This collection of essays highlights these women’s strengths and accomplishments as they struggle to gain and keep basic human rights and protect their families in the shadow of the Taliban’s resurgence and a brutal, ongoing war.

Join us for a presentation and discussion with Ashraf Zahedi and Amina Kator-Mubarez, co-editor and contributor to Land of the Unconquerable, as they discuss how to evaluate international efforts to empower women in Afghanistan and how to restore Afghan women’s voices to the design and implementation of gender reforms.

Featured panelists:

Amina Kator-Mubarez - Research Associate at the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies (CCS) at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA

Ashraf Zahedi, Ph.D. - Sociologist, human rights activist, and former scholar-in-residence at the Beatrice Bain Research Group, UC Berkeley