Elham: The atmosphere in offices has always been dishonest. It is almost impossible to work outside the home without going through sexual harassment. Women always attract attention when it comes to working with men at the same workplace. I applied for two vacant positions in a government’s office. At the very first step, after filling the application form, a series of disturbing phone calls began to disturb me. Everyone who had access to my phone number on my CV would call me. It happened once I applied for a vacant post in a non-governmental office. The very first moments I spent in that office, I found myself engulfed by deep leering of a man, who was staring at me in a way as if he had not seen a woman in his whole life. After my first observation, I realized that the office where I wished to work, was not the potentially suitable environment for me. Subsequently I decided to quit my job but the man sent me a friend request on Facebook. I rejected his friend request on Facebook. He however kept sending me messages. To get rid of him, I finally decided to block him. “This is what women go through in Afghanistan in terms of working outside the home”, Elham says disappointedly.
Arifa: I have worked for various media in the country for 5 years. During these five years, I have confronted a number of hardships, which constitute my most painful memories. Being touched and leered are what make the unpleasant memories of a woman working in an office. Previously my male colleague bothered himself proposing me to share bed with him. I decided to resign because I no longer wanted to work in such a bad atmosphere. I soon landed myself another job in one of the private TVs.
As months passed, I found my producer visiting my office repeatedly. One day, he interrupted me telling that I was not able to properly place my microphone on my ears. Then he approached me and placed the microphone in my ears slightly touching my neck. I thought it was normal and didn’t think about it too much. The next day he did the same thing. I was shocked and realized his evil intentions. I didn’t allow him to touch my neck again and I harshly push his hand away. As he saw that I was resisting against his advancement, he asked me” why you didn’t show any reaction yesterday? As soon as I heard this, I left the office in a hurry and never returned there.
Parwin: I found a job in a non-governmental office. Every day at lunch break, one of my collogues would bother himself sitting next to me and began chatting. One day he invited me for lunch in a restaurant. I would always consider as a brother I welcomed his offer. Trusted him completely, I went with him to the restaurant and sat at a corner. Sitting there, I noticed his mobile phone was on the table and I was on camera. I sensed something heinous was going to happen. I was surprised that he was filming me using his mobile phone. I stood and wanted to leave the restaurant. He took my hands and dragged me close to himself. He canoodled me and wouldn’t let me go. I asked him angrily what he was doing and he said that he wanted me to be his friend or otherwise he would leak the video. I left the restaurant and directly went to the manager’s office and complained against him and resigned.
After my resignation, he would still send me messages and threatening me to leak the clip. I thought it would be great to even leave the province. I did so but it always occurs to me that if he leaked the clip, it would be a scandal.
