Today is international Women’s Day, an occasion which is recognised and celebrated by women’s groups around the world.
It started nearly 100 years ago on March 8, 1908 when New York textile workers called a strike to condemn child labour, push for women’s rights to vote and to argue for safer working conditions.
Nearly 100 years on, this day marks at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
Today, women are no longer allowing themselves to be victims, as can be seen by RAWA, an association that provides a voice for the women in dominated and war-torn Afghanistan…
Many of us in New Zealand couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to live in constant fear - of not only our family, but the government, the law, invading countries, and fundamentalists. We are lucky to be separated from this, but for women in Afghanistan it is part of everyday life. The media never tire of showing us graphic images and stories of gore, but we seldom hear of the actual good that is being done, mostly ‘underground’ as it is dangerous to act in the open.
R.A.W.A (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) is one of these positives that are never mentioned. A group formed by a small number of young women whom in their short lives decided that being a woman was worth fighting for.
In Kabul, 1956, a girl named Meena was born. Her life was destined to be different, as she strived from a young age to change the way her country treated women. From university she became an activist, and soon founded RAWA. Initially, RAWA was mainly fighting for purely women’s rights and democracy, but after 1979 (due to a soviet driven coup); they began to focus on a wider range of political problems, but still maintained women’s welfare as their central theme. Meena and a few other activists worked hard at building up RAWA, launching a bi-lingual magazine aptly named Payam-e-Zan (Women’s Message) in 1981. This was used to supply women with much needed information about their rights as human beings, on exposing the horrific nature of the enemy fundamentalists, and giving women a voice.
RAWA has also done much more for women than just being a political voice. The group is more than aware of the dangers that they face everyday even trying to promote their message, so everything they do is kept as hidden as possible. Suffice to say that due to the life threatening nature of their job, as well as next to nothing funds, it is nothing short of a miracle they have achieved anything. Here is a taste of what RAWA does:
Establishing schools for refugee women and children: RAWA believes that literacy is the most important thing in the fight for women’s rights and democracy. If people know how to read, and understand the wider world around them, not just their immediate environment, they will be more empowered to make the right decisions and not be influenced by the many ‘brainwashing’ techniques used in the recruitment for fundamentalist groups. Women will be better equipped in being able to fend for themselves, and not be victims.
Healthcare: They have established mobile health units which travel around (or are based within) refugee camps. They provide much needed health care to women who otherwise would be left to die. They deliver up to three to four babies a day, and services are stretched as funds are few and far between. In Afghanistan, they also provide first aid courses to educate young women.
Support: This is not only emotional support, but sometime legal support. In many cases they must provide support for girls/women who have been beaten by their husbands or in-laws. In extreme cases, they try to find shelter for the victim. RAWA also provide women (especially those widowed or whose main source of income is either in prison or has been kidnapped) with financial support. Women are taught in hand-craft workshops how to make carpets, do beading, tailor and work and run their own chicken/fish farms. Money made from these activities goes to supporting the women, and also goes towards helping run RAWA.
Political activism: RAWA still remains to be active in the fight for women’s rights and for democracy in Afghanistan. They believe strongly that democracy cannot be forced onto a country; the country must fight for it and earn it. Only then will it be used properly. I don’t want to know what it’s like to be 13 and have your father marry you off to a 50 year old man, and then get jailed because you tried to run away. And I’m sure hardly any of us know what it’s like to live in a country where to be a women is equivalent to being a dog in the eyes of many (girls are kidnapped, raped, and exchanged for money and dogs by warlords). For groups like RAWA to stand up and fight for such women is honourable.
Their founder, Meena, was tortured and murdered in 1987 to make them stop, but her voice and work still carries on today, and that is courage. As women we can all think about how we are treated and if we don’t like it, we can damn well stand up and change it.
Tonia
Information was taken from the Rawa website. Click here for more information.
recognised and celebrated by women’s groups around the world. 
Many of us in New Zealand couldn’t possibly know what it’s like to live in constant fear - of not only our family, but the government, the law, invading countries, and fundamentalists. We are lucky to be separated from this, but for women in Afghanistan it is part of everyday life. The media never tire of showing us graphic images and stories of gore, but we seldom hear of the actual good that is being done, mostly ‘underground’ as it is dangerous to act in the open. 
RAWA has also done much more for women than just being a political voice. The group is more than aware of the dangers that they face everyday even trying to promote their message, so everything they do is kept as hidden as possible. Suffice to say that due to the life threatening nature of their job, as well as next to nothing funds, it is nothing short of a miracle they have achieved anything. Here is a taste of what RAWA does:
Support: This is not only emotional support, but sometime legal support. In many cases they must provide support for girls/women who have been beaten by their husbands or in-laws. In extreme cases, they try to find shelter for the victim. RAWA also provide women (especially those widowed or whose main source of income is either in prison or has been kidnapped) with financial support. Women are taught in hand-craft workshops how to make carpets, do beading, tailor and work and run their own chicken/fish farms. Money made from these 