kabul Archives | Stop Street Harassment

Video clip: anti-street harassment march in Afghanistan

August 3, 2011 By HKearl

Here’s a dose of inspiration this Wednesday:

As I’ve written about before, on July 14, 50 women and men marched against street harassment in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan. To learn more about why and what happened during the march, here’s a good news clip from an Australian station. It includes an interview with the march organizer.

To gain even more inspiration from their march, here’s an article for The WIP that I wrote about the march, which includes quotes from an organizer and participant. Here’s an excerpt (full article):

“Carrying banners and signs with messages like, “We will not tolerate harassment,” “Islam forbids men from insulting women,” and “I have the right to walk freely in my city,” on July 14, 50 brave women and men marched together from Kabul University to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. As they marched, they handed out fliers to raise awareness about the problem of street harassment in their country.

Most of the bystanders stood shocked, openly staring as the marchers passed by. It is not common to see women and men marching together through Kabul, nor is it typical to hear people speak out on an issue like street harassment. Despite the presence of a police escort, some men even heckled the marchers and called them names. Others were supportive and took fliers or started walking with the marchers.Tabasum Wolayat, a student at Middlebury College in Vermont, said that she was both excited and nervous to participate in the march. “As an Afghan woman who is harassed on a daily basis in the public sphere, I thought, ‘it is me who has to fight for myself, my mother, and my sisters’ safety, dignity, and rights.’”

She noted that her family was very supportive of her participation, but some of her female friends were not. They worried about her safety.

March organizer Noorjahan Akbar, a 19-year-old student at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, also received support from her family. Her entire family, including her mother and father who both have health issues, participated in the march with her. A few days after the march, Akbar said it had gone better than she expected and that she feels “so much stronger” because of the outpouring of support for their efforts.

In the spring of 2011, Akbar founded the Kabul-based group Young Women for Change (YWC) to help increase the political, social, economic and cultural participation of women across the country. Through discussions at their first meetings, it quickly became clear that the sexual harassment women experience on the streets hinders their participation in all these areas. In collaboration with another group, Hadia, they decided to launch an anti-street harassment campaign that began with the march.” (full article)

I look forward to reading about what the women do next!

Fifty people marched against street harassment in Kabul today

July 14, 2011 By HKearl

Young Women for Change Kabul, Afghanistan — Members of Young Women for Change at a June meeting

History was made in Kabul today when the first-ever public action against street harassment occurred.

An hour ago, Noorjahan Akbar, one of the organizers, wrote on her Facebook Wall:

“Today was so wonderful! Thanks to over fifty men and women and over fifteen media members who walked with us and the police that provided us with so much support in every step of the campaign. I am so moved and proud of being such a movement. Bravo Young Women for Change and Hadia-“

Congratulations to Akbar and the other organizers and participants! Way to share your voices and views and take action! I’ll be interviewing Akbar and another woman who participated later, so check back for more info.

For background, here’s why the young women decided to organize their action:

“The main reason we are holding this campaign is that despite the fact that women’s harassment is a serious problem that discourages many women from active participation in the society, it is not recognized as a problem. Women often remain silent when they are harassed and men believe it is normal to assault women, just like drinking water.

Harassment of women has gotten worse in the last couple of years as more women have started going out of their houses for schooling or jobs. However, that is not the only reason harassment has increased. Governmental regulations to restrict women’s behavior and clothing, for example the proposed wedding law that requires women to dress “modestly’ in weddings, encourages the people who think like the Taliban and believe women should remain in their homes to harass women as they exit their houses and use women’s “inappropraite” clothing as an excuse.

Through our campaign, we hope that sexual harassment will be recognized as a problem, discussed in the Afghan media and men, rather than the victims who are women, will be held responsible for their disrespectful behavior.”

For more on the march and street harassment in Afghanistan, see Akbar’s article for Al Jazeera and her interview for UN Dispatch.

From Washington, DC to Kabul: Community Marches against Street Harassment

July 7, 2011 By HKearl

Last month I was part of a team of activists who organized a march against street harassment in Washington, DC. It was empowering to walk the streets with a diverse crowd of community members, reminding people that they are “our streets, too.” It also felt empowering to raise more awareness about this important issue offline.

Even though street harassment often is a controversial topic, during the march itself, I felt safe and passersby were generally supportive. I didn’t notice any harassment or heckling, which had been a slight concern going into the march. It probably helped that there were numerous male allies in our midst.

I hope the same will be true next week when feminist activist and Dickinson College sophomore Noorjahan Akbar helps lead a community march against street harassment in Kabul, Afghanistan. I suspect their march will be quite different from ours, especially since many people at ours wore shorts and tank tops in the warm summer sun. In addition to having different clothing choices and probably a lot more chance of facing harassment and even attack from passersby, their march will be historic for marking the first time people are taking public action around street harassment in Afghanistan.

The Facebook event page highlights what will take place:

“Hadia, a group of Afghan volunteers, and Young Women for Change (YWC), an organization working for the welfare and empowerment of Afghan women, would like to invite youth across the city to join hands in a campaign [called Advocacy for Dignity] against street harassment of women on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 3 p.m.

The majority of the participants of this campaign will be women to guarantee the comfort of female participants, but young men who oppose the disrespect of women are also welcome to this event.

Approximately a hundred youth will start walking from Chahari Sadaarat, Shahr, at 3 p.m. and walk to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. This [march] … will end after a half hour gathering in front of the MOWA. During the campaign, members of Hadia and YWC will encourage the public to partake in the peaceful walk as a sign of protest and a method for raising awareness on the un-Islamic act of women’s harassment.

In addition to advocating through the walk, Hadia and YWC members want to use media and propaganda as a means of raising awareness to recognize street harassment of women as a violation of their human rights and an issue that discourages women from social participation.”

How exciting! Yesterday I corresponded with Akbar via Facebook about the march. She told me more about why they are holding it:

Except for the middle paragraph, her quote could have been written by almost any woman around the world. Globally, street harassment is not acknowledged as a serious problem (though thanks to important groups like the New York City Council and UN Women who are taking on this issue, this is shifting a little bit) and we need to help raise awareness that it is and get men involved in being part of the solution.

This global problem requires a global response and I am so excited to add Afghanistan to the growing list of countries where there is resistance and activism taking place to make public places safer for women and girls.

For more information about this march and related feminist activism in Kabul, read a UN Dispatch published just yesterday called The Rise of Afghanistan’s Fearless Young Feminists.

Stay tuned for a blog post after July 14 recapping how their march went.