Stoning in Kandahar

Last evening I was captured by a documentary on CBC. The report was about women in Afghanistan and how they are starting to stand up for their rights. Many had their faces covered while others only wore scarfs around their heads. The reporter interviewed some as they were marching for their rights on International Women's Day. The report even showed a women who painstakingly had built her own home with sand and bricks.

My heart raced as I witnessed the stoning of a women. She was on her knees covered in her burka. Men threw stones at her until she fell to the ground and died. Why, because she was assumed to have cheated on her husband. Here we are in 2011, and still some countries treat women like slaves and second class citizens.I just can't wrap my head around this one. Witnessing this execution on t.v. was surreal. At first I thought it was just actors, but no it was real. As I watched the men throw the rocks and stones the narrator never made mention if the man implicated in the assumed affair received a penalty of some sort. I imagine not.

The plight of women in Afghanistan is a daily battle. Their responsibilities of bringing up their children remain, but they are also shunned against even when they encourage their daughters to attend school.

How will the culture and mindset ever change? I suspect only with those women who are engaged to move forward despite religion, government laws and tradition. The men will never change. Here again we witness abuse, violence and control.I only hope the the younger educated generation of women in Afghanistan will develop the tools and resources to understand that they will not accept violence against women and that they they have a right to voice their opinion.

It feels so wrong to sit back in our cozy white picket fenced homes and not acknowledge what is happening in Afghanistan and other countries where women are struggling. My question is what can we do to help these women live a better life?