General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: An Afghan woman in Kabul: 'Now I have to burn everything I achieved' [View all]I was feeling the same earlier this evening, when the news was coming in from every direction. Terrible, just terrible, is how I felt in thinking about their dashed hopes and dreams.
I had many Iraqi women in my classes, and there may have been some women from Afghanistan, too, although I do not recall that nationality specifically. They were such intelligent, persistant women who were very dedicated to their scholarly work. It touched me as a teacher--to know that these women might not necessarily be given this chance in their home country. They were so eager and serious about their studies.
I would often have males from the same country in the class, too, and I recall thinking that if they just once crossed that line that indicated they thought they were superior to women that I would let them know about it. But interestingly enough, they never did. In fact I was quite amazed that they treated their fellow female students and me with a good deal of respect.
It kind of makes one wonder about the effect the overall culture has on one's behavior in regard to gender.
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on another note: I loved the comment upthread about who we should have trained.