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In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan
by Jenny Nordberg
Book Reviewed by:An investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl.
An investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl
In Afghanistan, a culture ruled almost entirely by men, the birth of a son is cause for celebration and the arrival of a daughter is often mourned as misfortune. A bacha posh (literally translated from Dari as "dressed up like a boy") is a third kind of child – a girl temporarily raised as a boy and presented as such to the outside world. Jenny Nordberg, the reporter who broke the story of this phenomenon for the New York Times, constructs a powerful and moving account of those secretly living on the other side of a deeply segregated society where women have almost no rights and little freedom.
The Underground Girls of Kabul is anchored by vivid characters who bring this remarkable story to life: Azita, a female parliamentarian who sees no other choice but to turn her fourth daughter Mehran into a boy; Zahra, the tomboy teenager who struggles with puberty and refuses her parents' attempts to turn her back into a girl; Shukria, now a married mother of three after living for twenty years as a man; and Nader, who prays with Shahed, the undercover female police officer, as they both remain in male disguise as adults.
At the heart of this emotional narrative is a new perspective on the extreme sacrifices of Afghan women and girls against the violent backdrop of America's longest war. Divided into four parts, the book follows those born as the unwanted sex in Afghanistan, but who live as the socially favored gender through childhood and puberty, only to later be forced into marriage and childbirth. The Underground Girls of Kabul charts their dramatic life cycles, while examining our own history and the parallels to subversive actions of people who live under oppression everywhere.
CHAPTER ONE
THE REBEL MOTHER
Azita, a few years earlier
Our brother is really a girl."
One of the eager-looking twins nods to reaffirm her words. Then she turns to her sister. She agrees. Yes, it is true. She can confirm it.
They are two ten-year-old identical girls, each with black hair, squirrel eyes, and a few small freckles. Moments ago, we danced to my iPod set to shuffle as we waited for their mother to finish a phone conversation in the other room. We passed the headphones between us, showing off our best moves. Though I failed to match their elaborate hip rolls, some of my most inspired sing-along was met with approval. It actually sounded pretty good bouncing off the ice-cold cement walls of the apartment in the Soviet-built maze that is home to a chunk of Kabul's small middle class.
Now we sit on the gold-embroidered sofa, where the twins have set up a tea service consisting of glass mugs and a pump thermos on a silver-plated tray. The mehman khana is ...
Here are some of the comments posted about The Underground Girls of Kabul in our legacy forum.
You can see the full discussion here.
"The Underground Girls of Kabul features several women who find ways to resist and subvert power. Which woman's story did you find most interesting? Why?
Azita was the most interesting to me. I found her both courageous and perplexingly timid. I was horrified that her father who seemed to support her aspirations would then marry her off to an ignorant man and condemn her to a suffocating life where ... - beckyh
Are the lives of Afghan women entirely different from ours, or do you see similarities in how we behave and how we live?
I've come back to this discussion as the book made such an impression on me. It's now on the way to my attorney grandson in NYC. I shall be interested in learning his reaction to the book upon his reading of it. Now, as to the question of ... - Lea Ann
As a child, were there things you absolutely couldn't do due to your gender? Do you see a future in which gender roles will be less strict? Is that a good or bad thing?
Reene and I sound like contemporaries. I recall how angry it made me to have to play half court basketball. And, how much angier I was working at a local cannery at age 16 and learning that the men/boys doing the exact job I was doing were paid 5 ... - Lea Ann
Before reading this book what (if anything) did you know about Afghanistan? What did you find surprising about the country and its history in reading this book?
I had read several books that touched on bacha posh but had no idea it was so widespread. It is very important for girls (and boys) to be educated. Azita knew - because of her education - that there was more she was capable of and could aspire to. ... - beckyh
Did you ever wonder how things would have been different had you been born the other gender? Did you ever wish that you could be a different gender?
I have never wished to be a male - not for one minute. Like some of the enlightened fathers in Jenny Nordberg's book, I also had a father who believed (and still believes) that his daughter can do anything with education and perseverance. My father ... - kellilee
The Underground Girls of Kabul is quite entertaining and would be a good primer for anyone looking to know more about women's rights in Afghanistan. Those interested in the custom of bacha posh or simply keen on finding a good human interest story are sure to find the book to be a fascinating read. I especially recommended it as a book-group selection; with its discussion of gender roles and women's rights it will certainly generate good conversation...continued
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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).
Jennifer Clement, author of Prayers for the Stolen
The Underground Girls of Kabul is a riveting, firsthand account of what life as a girl is like in Afghanistan and how it often means becoming a boy. Jenny Nordberg has written a compelling and important work that exposes the profound gender prejudice that exists, in different forms, all over the world. Naheed Bahram, program director of Women for Afghan Women
The Underground Girls of Kabul is an amazing book. The fact that Nordberg brings this to light is eye-opening to everyone—even to Afghans. It is the truth that many Afghans live with it as part of their life. Valerie M. Hudson, professor and George H.W. Bush Chair, The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University
Nordberg brings to light a world that no Afghan speaks of, but everyone knows: the world of girls raised as boys, usually until puberty . . .The former bacha posh may yet change Afghanistan for the better . . . Nordberg’s book is a pioneering effort to understand this hidden worldThe Underground Girls of Kabul explores the custom of bacha posh where girls are dressed as boys and pass off as sons in families. While, by definition, the bacha posh wear male clothing, I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore the various items of Muslim women's attire as I suspect that, like myself, many readers will be unclear about the differences between the various garments, such as the hijab, chador, abaya and burka:
The practice of wearing a veil or head covering predates Islam; statues from approximately 2500 BCE depict veiled women, and the first written reference found is in an Assyrian legal text composed in the 13th century BCE. It's thought that the custom was common in Persia and Byzantine societies, ...
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