There is considerable debate about the extent to which gender equality and womens’ rightsare universal values. This debate has been particularly heated in Afghanistan where theviolation of women’s rights by the Taliban regime was one justification used by the US and itsallies for their invasion of the country. There is, however, very little research on how ordinaryAfghan women view their lives and their place within a highly patriarchal society and howtheir views might fit into these debates. This paper explores these issues using in-depthqualitative interviews with 12 Hazara women and their husbands in Kabul. These women areall associates of microfinance organisations and the paper also explores the extent to whichaccess to microfinance has contributed to changes in their attitudes and relationships withothers in their families and communities. The paper finds that microfinance is only one of themany changes that these women and their families have experienced in the course of theirlives. While many of these changes have been extremely traumatic, they have alsoexpanded women’s horizons, opening up the possibility of new ways of organising genderrelations within the family and community. The paper concludes that while the Afghanwomen in the study may not espouse the idea of individual rights, they would like to see afairer gender distribution of rights and responsibilities.Keywords: women’s rights, gender justice, microfinance, cultural relativism, classicpatriarchy
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