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Noorjahan Akbar, 19, founder of rights group Young Women for Change is a huge inspiration to me. She’s taking on the taboo issue of street harassment in Afghanistan and as a first step, she organized a successful march of 50 women and men in Kabul on Thursday, garnering worldwide media attention.

She is a prime example of how most activism on this issue is by young women, the ones who are most impacted by street harassment. Young women around the world are learning to not be silent, to not ignore street harassment any longer, but rather to speak out and demand it’s end, even in a country deemed the least safe for women.

Via Reuters:

“The idea behind street harassment is that women should not be out of their houses,” said organizer Noorjahan Akbar, 19, founder of rights group Young Women for Change.

“We want to fight that mentality because we believe that these streets belong to us as much as they belong to the men of this country,” adding that she herself had suffered harassment so persistent it made her reluctant to walk anywhere.

International attention has often focused on the most extreme attacks on women’s freedom, including acid attacks on girls walking to school and mysterious gas poisonings at several girls’ schools, including in Kabul.

But Afghan women say they face a barrage of lower level persecution that can make daily life a challenge.”

Akbar graciously agreed to answer a few more questions about the march and efforts in Afghanistan to stop street harassment, including what people outside the country can do to support their efforts.

1- Stop Street Harassment (SSH): What was the mood of people who participated in the march?

Noorjahan Akbar (NA): The women and men who participated were very energetic despite the fact that the weather was hot and we were stared at in every step. Every one of us felt empowered by having other people by our side. It was so thrilling to see that none of us are alone in this fight and we are willing to stand up for each other.

2 – SSH: What were some of the messages on the signs people carried?

NA: “These streets are mine too.” “We will not tolerate harassment.” “Harassment is a sin and against the law.” “Islam forbids men from insulting women.” “We are equals. Treat us with respect.” “I have the right to walk freely in my city.”

3 – SSH: How did passersby respond or react?

NA: Most of the people who saw us were shocked given that they didn’t expect women and men to go out and speak about such a thing. Sometimes, they would call us names but the moment we would turn a camera towards them they would stop. Everyone stared at us. There were many who supported, asked questions, distributed copies of our flyers and walked with us as well.

4 – SSH: Do you feel the march accomplished your goals you had going into it?

NA: Definitely. We had a lot of press coverage. a large group of men and women showed up. the police’s performance in protecting us from harassment, stopping cars and blocking the streets was amazing. We wanted our campaign to be the start of a dialogue about sexual harassment and a step towards recognizing street harassment as a problem. Media helped us fulfill this goal.

5 – SSH: Do you have any other plans for addressing street harassment? If so, what?

NA: We are planning a press conference on the importance of media’s advocacy against street harassment in about two weeks. We also are working on a city-wide research in September during which thousands of women and men will be surveyed on how prominent the problem is in Kabul.

6 – SSH: What do you recommend people in Afghanistan do to help with this issue?

NA: We want everyone to begin talking about street harassment as a problem. We want women to take the harassers to police. We want the media to stop lending their microphones to religious leaders who blame women’s clothing for harassment and begin a dialogue where men, who harass women, are held responsible for it, not the women, who are victims.

7 – SSH: What would you like to see people who live outside Afghanistan do to help your efforts?

NA: Advocate for us using social media and public media and contribute to YWC and Hadia to help us become sustainable as a movement for progress in Afghanistan.

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:

“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.”

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.

Interview with organizer of Afghanistan anti-street harassment march

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