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KABUL (SW) – For many years, massive funds have been spent on improving the status of women, but these efforts have not brought significant changes in the lives of women in Afghanistan.
Each year, on March 8, the International Women’s Day is celebrated, but a many women under the skin of the community are always forgotten.
It was hard to get hold of Shakeeba, a professional prostitute working underground in Kabul.
This middle-aged woman said that she has no idea about the IWD. In her views, this day is for a selective group of well-off women who are not aware about the troubles of other women. Shakeeba said she never wanted to sleep with different men to earn money, but poverty and joblessness compelled her and dozens of other women to enter this dark world.
She is physically attractive, willing to marry and settle down, but fears of backlash from her future husband for not being virgin haunts her. She describes the profession of prostitution as a ‘one-way street’ with no way to return.
Shakeeba said she leaves her home on the pretext of shopping, and has not let anyone know about her. This woman said women like her are always looking for new customers. “Women like us are for sexual pleasure of men, not as life partners”.
When I asked her about the government’s plans for the welfare and empowerment of women, she responded with a cunning smile. Why hasn’t the women’s life improved in Afghanistan despite generous investment in this regard? And, where has all these funds gone? Well, perhaps Shakeeba’s cunning smile is an answer.
*Shakeeba is the pseudonym for this woman.
ENDS
