[Printer Friendly Version]   [How to E-mail This Article to A Friend]

AROUND THE WORLD 1: Afghan Women Take The Wheel

Women in Afghanistan are learning to drive. This is just one new freedom women in Afghanistan can now enjoy since the Taliban regime collapsed in 2001.

After years of discrimination, women in Afghanistan can now work, vote, and even walk in public without a male relative by their side, something that used to be forbidden, BBC News reported this week.

Last September, Afghanistan saw their first democratic elections in more than 30 years. For now, a delicate peace exists in the country that has known chaos and war since 1979, BBC news reported.

In big cities, such as Heart and Kabul, girls can now attend school. During the Taliban rule, secret underground schools were formed to teach girls. Mukadas, a university student and Afghan aid-worker, taught at one of the underground schools in Kabul.

“We had a bell,” she told BBC news. “It would ring just in time to allow us to hide the books when the Taliban came.”

Mukadas is one young woman taking advantage of the new driving law. She enrolled at Mamozai’s Ladies and Gentlemen’s Driving School, which was one of the first schools to teach women how to drive. Today the school has more than 200 female graduates, BBC News reported.

In the past, the Taliban thought it was wrong for women to learn to drive. In fact, most of the instructors still don’t think women should be driving, but that doesn’t stop women from signing up for lessons. Unfortunately, everything is more difficult for women in Afghanistan.

As one woman walked to the car to take her driving test, a line of men yelled horrible names at her, BBC News reported. Obviously shaken, the woman, an English teacher named Roya, failed the test.

“We have freedom now,” Roya told the BBC news reporter, “but we are not free to enjoy it.”

--Written by Erin Rigik

Write your own story telling us what you think about this article!

Read AROUND THE WORLD 2: Pamper Pets For A Good Cause