A Precarious Shelter in Afghanistan

A woman reads with a girl in a Kabul shelter. Afghanistan's chief justice conceded that cultural bias deters women from seeking legal help. (By Pamela Constable -- The Washington Post)

Today, that official is no longer in his post, and the government of President Hamid Karzai has made several changes in the justice system. Last summer, Karzai appointed an Afghan American to head the Supreme Court, a former university teacher who is widely viewed as a modern thinker, sympathetic to women's rights.

In a recent interview, the new chief justice, Abdul Salam Azimi, said Afghan civil laws and Islamic principles both provide ample protection for women, including the right to divorce for a variety of reasons. But he acknowledged that conservative culture is often more powerful, especially in rural areas, and that there are heavy social and psychological barriers to women seeking legal help.

"If a woman comes to court, we will protect her under the law," said Azimi, 70, who dresses in tailored business suits. "The problem is that many cases never reach us at all. A lady in a house may be suffering a lot, but she is too ashamed to go and complain. There is strong pressure from families, and often there is pressure from the women themselves."

Advocacy groups have tried to educate the public about women's rights, with limited success. In the town of Charikar, 30 miles north of Kabul, a community meeting was held recently to discuss the problem of domestic violence. The women in the audience were eager and attentive, but the male officials on the panel seemed impatient and uncomfortable.

One official gave a long, rambling speech in which he said it was important to protect women but then criticized Western countries as immoral and defended Afghan culture as "the least violent toward women in the world."

In a small room nearby, a free knitting and literacy class for women was underway. None of the participants had ever been to school or learned a skill, and several said it had been difficult to get permission to attend from male family members.

"Some women are stopped by their brothers, their fathers, even their uncles," said Rahima, 35, a mother of six. "I visit those families, and I tell them I am a good woman, I go straight to class and back home with my face covered. My honor is safe, and I am learning something useful for myself, and it can be useful to their wives and daughters, too."

Advocates say that what little legal protection Afghan women have is effectively available only in Kabul, the capital, and several other large cities. But even there, they said, courts rarely grant divorces to women and usually award custody of minor children to fathers.

In Kabul, a German-based group called Medica Mondiale provides attorneys for girls or women charged with such offenses as fleeing their husbands or having sex outside of marriage. Lawyers there said they try to mediate informally with family members, who often level such accusations against their own daughters or wives.

For example, they said, two families could be persuaded to let an eloping son and daughter marry instead of going to prison, or a girl who rejects an arranged marriage could return the gifts and money the man's family has given her, often the real cause of dispute.

"If a girl of 16 has been promised to an old man in marriage and she is unhappy about it, the law says she cannot be forced, but she may be unable to express her feelings to the family. We can express them for her," said Aziza Khowa, a lawyer with the group. "If the families are open-minded, they may understand quickly. If they are very strict, we may have to visit them and talk about it many times."

Since Medica Mondiale began offering legal aid to Afghan women in 2003, it has helped solve 750 cases through the court system or informal mediation.

The most formidable obstacle to change, advocates said, is the power of gossip and shame. An Afghan woman's reputation can be destroyed for life if she simply decides to insist on her right to choose, whether that means rejecting an unattractive groom or refusing to endure daily beatings by a drunken husband.

"The rule of rumor is a terrible thing, and it can cause great tragedy," said Angeles Martinez, the Medica Mondiale director here. "In Afghanistan, women have no identity as individuals, only in relation to their families."

In more than 90 percent of cases in which Afghan women or girls have attempted suicide by burning, Martinez said, "the cause is pure, constant domestic violence. At some point you turn it against others, or against yourself."