After recognizing that by pursuing this topic, I too am a westerner that has not been back to Afghanistan since I was born there. However, the stories that I have heard from my family members and the research that Jenny Nordberg has done, I recognize that I will never truly understand the struggles of Afghan women in Afghanistan. However, there are similarities between the issues that these women face in Afghanistan and the problems that women face here in the U.S.
Ultimately, this is a feminist issue, by looking at this from the perspective of the women and the society that they live in, it is more apparent now in this Trump era that women’s rights be protected. Although American women including myself will not endure such restrictions as having to walk outside with a man, limits on education and forced marriages as some of the women in Afghanistan have endured, we still struggle with women’s rights. Some of the biggest struggles that women in the U.S. face is equal pay, the right to an abortion/birth control, and basic health services that impact women such as cancer screenings and medicines that have inflated prices.
My positionality as an Afghan-American woman having grown up in the west makes this research very personal. I recognize the limitations that I have in understanding this research but by taking into account gender dynamics, resistance, and the way that Afghanistan has historically developed its culture I feel that I have good understanding of this topic.