KABUL (SW) – In a series of interviews, a number of young Afghan women told Salam Watandar that everyone tell them they seem much older than they actually are owing to the relentless hardships of life.
Salam Watandar has interviewed 35 women across Afghanistan about their “puberty and youth”. These women say that they did not understand how their youth passed. The interviewed women said they are concerned about losing this important stage of their lives, and those who have lost this stage of their lives are disappointed and continue to suffer.
Among these women, 12 of them mentioned poverty and high aspirations, 10 said not considering the interval between child births, 8 mentioned diabetes and other diseases as the factors that prevented them from enjoying this important stage of their lives. In these conversations, 3 other women mentioned hard work at home and outside the house and two others mentioned family violence as reasons for losing their beauty and youth too early at young age.
26-year-old Palwasha, a resident of Nangarhar and a mother of three children, told Salam Watandar that she spent her youth with many problems due to early marriage, successive births and not eating proper food. She adds: “The reason my beauty is ruined is that I haven’t paid attention to my daily routine properly. I got married at a young age, my first child was a girl and everyone said that your child should have been a boy. It was the reason that I didn’t implement the family planning in the right way that the successive births ruined my face and black spots appeared on my face, and my eyesight decreased as my blood levels are very low.”
Additionally, 35-year-old Fariba, a mother of four children, who lost her beauty and youth at a very young age due to having many children, said, “Sometimes, my family and friends say that you destroyed yourself because of your four children. When I look in the mirror, I see that my face has wrinkles and dark circles around my eyes.”
The economic hardship in Afghanistan is one of the other problems that women have been affected by. Some of the women consider poverty as one of the reasons for losing their youth and beauty. According to them, not eating proper food and lack of access to the basic needs of life have deprived them of the joy of life.
Tur Pikay, who is a resident of Kapisa and a mother of five children, says that family and economic problems have affected her life and physical outlook and affected her youth. “Because of the bad economic situation, I have more health problems. The lack of proper food has caused me anemia and anxiety.”
35-year-old Fariba also agrees: “Because of the bad economic situation, I couldn’t eat properly, and because of this, I have become anemic and due to the lack of vitamins in my body, my skin and body are deteriorating day by day. Everyone tells me you look old.”
Sohaila, who is a mother of five children, and Qamar Gul, who has four children, say that heavy work has caused them various diseases. Sohaila says: “Working under the sun, baking bread in the oven and sweeping the dirt is the reason for my skin wrinkles and the fact that I am anemic, my skin is old and damaged due to the lack of vitamins.”
Qamar Gul, added: “Doing all the hard work at home and outside, and working with men outside the home, such as rice, potatoes, wheat, farming, and not eating meals at the right time are the reasons; sometimes even breakfast is forgotten.”
In addition to these issues, conflict and violence between families is also the reason that causes damage to women. Violence and improper family functioning have made 26-year-old Zainab face mental and skin problems.
She says: “The spots or skin problems on me are because I did not eat healthy after giving birth. I could not get the food my body needed. Also, cruelty and family violence caused me to suffer from mental problems, and this caused my skin to suffer from these issues.”
Doctors and psychologists confirm that women and girls suffer psychologically and physically during severe crisis and it affects their youth.
Haibatullah Ebrahimkhel, a psychologist, told Salam Watandar: “When a girl gets married, she is unfamiliar with her new life and this has a deep effect on them. There are many reasons for women aging prematurely. Since women are more emotional, for this reason, when they are not paid attention to, they often suffer from mental problems, anxiety and stress, which leads to big problems and this leaves negative effects on their skin. They also feel not respected in the society. Restrictions on education and the ban on recreation places have caused women to age. Their situation should be acknowledged to be given rights, and this will keep women young and fresh.”
Samira Shahir, a doctor in the gynecological-obstetrics department, mentions forced and underage marriages as problems that have destroyed women’s aspirations. “Not respecting the interval between births causes women’s body to need a lot of nutrition, and not eating complete and appropriate food causes them to face problems. In general, the time of pregnancy is the time when women suffer from some diseases and anemia, which causes them to age prematurely and harms them physically. A number of women who get married early and give birth early, get breast cancer.”
However, skin specialists say that if the skin is not taken care of, it will quickly deteriorate. Samira Samizada, a doctor in the skin department, believes that the lack of complete and proper food, lack of water, mental and emotional pressures and the use of cosmetics make the skin age quickly.
“Women age faster than men,” she said. “Skin aging has different reasons. A skin that is white and dry is the main reason for lack of water. Stress and mental pressure also cause skin aging. Anemia, loss of appetite, hormone reduction and other factors that cause the skin to deteriorate,” she added.
It is believed that if women and girls are given their due rights and they do not face unnecessary restrictions, not only their health and body will remain healthy, most family problems would be solved as well.
