The Underground Girls of Kabul

I usually stick to fiction novels because I don't have the emotional energy to invest in thinking about an actual, real, life issue. However, I heard an interview with the author of this book and decided to give it a go since it sounded interesting and the middle east is a mess and I wanted to learn more about the culture.

The Underground Girls of Kabul is a book about a reporter who travels to Afghanistan because she heard of an undocumented anthropological issue and wanted to pursue the truth of it: families who dress their daughters as sons. 

Afghanistan is one of the worst places to be a woman. Under the Taliban rule, women couldn't leave their homes unescorted by a man...even it that is a young child. They couldn't show any part of their skin. They couldn't work. They were forcibly married at unthinkably young ages. Ages where girls should still be playing with dolls, not have their own real life one to take care of.

I had always thought that Afghanistan is so oppressive to women because of the Taliban. But this book has shown me that the oppression goes much deeper than whom is ruling the country. It's the culture and the Afghans themselves who are so oppressive.

This is a fantastic book full of tragedy and hope. It's an interesting commentary on the lives of women in Afghanistan. It's also opens a discussion on gender roles, a patriarchal society, and what does it in fact mean to be a woman.