Family, Gender, and Law in a Globalizing Middle East and South Asia

12. Afghan Refugee Women in Iran: Revisioning the Afghan Family

223 12. AfghanRefugeeWomeninIran Revisioning the Afghan Family Homa Hoodfar Since the establishment of Afghanistan’s post-Taliban regime in 2002, family law reform has been the focus of many conferences and meetings and a great deal of research.1 However, although some female politicians are addressing family law reform, few of their male counterparts have taken up the issue. This situation stems at least in part from the history of family law reform in Afghanistan. Rulers from Amir Abdur Rahman (1880–1901) on have attempted to develop a centralized nation-state out of diverse linguistic and tribal groups.2 Recognizing the central role of marriage and kinship dynamics in reinforcing tribal cohesion and the tribal power structure, they have sought to reform marriage practices and reengineer gender relations. However, even among the Pashtuns, 1. The research for this chapter was conducted under the auspices of the Women and Law Program, Columbia University, and Women Living under Muslim Laws as part of the Impact of Militarization on Women’s Lives Program. It was funded by the Mellon Foundation . Several organizations such as Women Living under Muslim Laws, the Afghan Women Network, the Organization of Women Lawyers, the Organization of Women Judges, and the Women and Law Group have held workshops, meetings, and conferences, and there has also been considerable sharing of information on family law in Muslim countries by organizations such as Women Living under Muslim Laws and Sisters in Islam. 2. Ahmed Shah Durrani is generally regarded as the founder of Afghanistan in 1747, but there was no attempt to build a modern nation-state until after the second AngloAfghan war (1878–1880), under Amir Abdur Rahman. 224 . Women’s Roles and Family Relationships who have otherwise supported the central government, tribal and religious leaders have vigorously resisted interference in the family and kinship system. Tension over attempts to reform family law underlay several rebellions against the central state that toppled rulers, particularly in 1929 and 1978. State intervention in family law was concerned primarily with construction of a centralized, modern state, and not gender equity, justice , promotion of democracy, or the “liberation of women.” Little effort was made to organize women and galvanize public support for family law reform beyond some limited activism among the elite. Until the late seventies there were few efforts to bring about the structural social and economic changes necessary to support change in gender roles and family structures. Current demands for reform are, however, fundamentally different. For the first time it is women, from all walks of life, who are demanding reform, in response to major socioeconomic changes resulting from more than twenty-five years of war.3 Aside from the internal displacement of more than one million Afghans, the exodus of more than five million people to neighboring countries such as Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and India plus many Western countries has caused the breakdown of traditional social structures and institutions. New economic conditions, and the refugees ’ experiences of life in other Muslim contexts, have fostered new understandings and alternative visions of gender roles and of “Muslimness .” Views on women’s education, women’s participation in the labor market, and women’s rights in the family have shifted substantially, in part because of dire financial necessity. In the following I argue, first, that top-down family law reform failed in the past owing to an absence of accompanying structural changes and a 3. The important driving force for this campaign to reform family law is the various Afghan women’s organizations that were set up in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Among the activists are a notable number of young women who have undertaken law school or Islamic studies in Iran and Pakistan. Their knowledge of different histories of lawmaking and Islamic justifications has enriched the reform campaign. There is no longer a single but, rather, many different Islamic perspectives and justifications. Afghan Refugee Women in Iran . 225 reluctance to mobilize women themselves. Second, I examine the realities of Afghan refugee women in Iran and how their experiences have altered their vision of their roles and rights as Muslim women. Multiplication of these significant, if diverse, changes has fueled the push for family law reform. Despite a lack of interest among Afghan politicians and international agencies, the first success came in 2007 when the powerful, conservative Legal Council ratified a modified version of the national marriage contract. It gives women the option of...