The Oral History of Afghan Women

While it has been recognized that women face unprecedented levels of violence in recent hostilities around the world, as is often the case in conflict and post-conflict settings, little systematic documentation of their experiences during and after war has been undertaken.

The same is true in Afghanistan.

While there have been some rare cases of female combatants, women in Afghanistan are not only victims but also survivors and agents of social change.

Part of UNIFEM’s aim is to ensure that women’s voices are heard and their concerns included in peace building processes and reconstruction plans, as well as to monitor and document violence against women (VAW) in Afghanistan. Other initiatives of UNIFEM within this framework include the EVAW unit's primary and secondary database on VAW.

The Project

As part of the two year programme on Supporting Women’s Engagement in Peace-Building and Preventing Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Conflict, UNIFEM Afghanistan aims to unveil, to the extent possible, the history of Afghan women from the late 1970s to the present, by documenting women's oral histories.

The purpose of the project is to collect, document and publish a book of Afghan women’s testimonies that reflect the scope and nature of SGBV experienced during the three decades of international and internal conflict and beyond. In this way, an objective, historical account of SGBV in Afghanistan can contribute to increasing awareness among key institutions.

By the publication of women's own stories of the experience of war, it is hoped that the voice of Afghan women will be heard, and the true nature of their livelihood will be better understood.

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