“For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out”

On November 7th, New York Times published an article on Afghani wives titled “For Afghan Wives, a Desperate, Fiery Way Out.” This article describes the life of women in Afghanistan. Simply, in Afghani culture, the woman is property of the husband. On a more complicated side, these women are arranged to be married and to provide for their husbands at a very young age. The husbands are superior to their wives. Gul Zada, a victim to spousal abuse and a mother of six, choose the only option she had to get out of her situation, Suicide. However, her attempt at burning herself ended with her surviving with 60% of her body being burned. Suicide is the only option because “Returned runaways are often shot or stabbed in honor killings because the families fear they have spent time unchaperoned with a man. Women and girls are still stoned to death.” Gul Zada isn’t the only victim. In fact, the burn hospital has at least 10 female self-immolation cases at any one time. The hospital also added that Ms. Zada probably suffered from depression. This shows how much power the husbands have over their wives. New York Times states “The choices for Afghan women are extraordinarily restricted: Their family is their fate. There is little chance for education, little choice about whom a woman marries, no choice at all about her role in her own house. Her primary job is to serve her husband’s family. Outside that world, she is an outcast.”
In “The Pillow Book,” Sei Shonagon illustrates the life of a woman in Japan during the 10th century. In her stories and poetry she exhibits how women are treated as non equals by men. Husbands have full control over their wives since marriage. In her memoirs, she expressed “Depressing Things.” One story she tells is about a husband who fails to return home because he was with “some high-ranking Court lady” (B, 251). In medieval Japan, woman were housewives without opportunity. The major art of “The Pillow talk” was keeping it hidden. The fact it was kept hidden shows a great deal of how Japanese women were not equal to men.
Both the Afghani and Japanese women were put down by their husbands. As a whole, the male gender was and still is superior in some parts of the world.