logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2022
9m 1s

Afghanistan's women's newspaper

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Aina-E-Zan, the first women's newspaper in Afghanistan, was launched in 2002. Edited by Shukria Barazkai, the newspaper covered women's rights issues in depth, as well as criticizing the warlords who controlled much of the country at the time. Even though this was a relatively open period in Afghan history, the women journalists still faced death threats and at one point Aina-E-Zan was even banned by the Afghan parliament after it printed an article about a woman being stoned. Shukria Barazkai talks to Laura Jones.

PHOTO: Shukria Barazkai in 2005 (Getty Images)

Up next
Today
The creation of the International Criminal Court
In 1998, at a conference organised by the United Nations, a blueprint was devised for what would be the world's first permanent International Criminal Court.Judge Phillipe Kirsch chaired the Rome conference that led to the formation of the court. He tells Gill Kearsley about the ... Show More
10m 23s
Aug 22
Geneva Conventions
In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino, in Italy. He couldn’t believe the lack of aid for the wounded soldiers and came up with two ideas – a voluntary aid organisation and an international treaty to protect those injured in wartime. They went o ... Show More
10m 2s
Aug 21
The rise and fall of BlackBerry
In the early 2000s, BlackBerry was the phone that ruled the world. But within a decade, it collapsed, overtaken by the touch screen revolution.Sam Gruet speaks to former co-CEO Jim Balsillie about BlackBerry’s meteoric rise, its battle against Apple, and the moment he knew it was ... Show More
9m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2022
Women who made history
To celebrate International Women's Day, a special edition on five women who've made their mark on history. US feminist Gloria Steinem remembers founding Ms Magazine in 1972; Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi discusses the human rights campaigning which won her the Nobel Peace Prize; an ... Show More
50m 3s
Jun 2023
The New Afghanistan, Through the Eyes of Three Women
This episode contains descriptions of violence.In the two years since the United States pulled out of Afghanistan, the Taliban has shut women and girls out of public life.Christina Goldbaum, a correspondent in the Kabul bureau for The New York Times, traveled across Afghanistan t ... Show More
40m 19s
Oct 2021
Trapped: Afghan women judges fear for their lives
Many Afghans are still trying to escape their country after the Taliban took over in August but few are as threatened as women judges. In 2009 the Elimination of Violence Against women was signed by then President Hamid Karzai and in the years that followed, courts led by female ... Show More
20m 29s
Aug 2022
Afghan women keep hope alive one year after the fall of Kabul
One year after the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghan-Canadian author Nahid Shahalimi says the voices of Afghan women are not being heard. In her new book, We Are Still Here: Afghan Women on Courage, Freedom, and the Fight to Be Heard, Shahalimi collects the stories and struggles of ... Show More
26m 45s
Dec 2014
Afghan Women: Speaking Out, Losing Lives
A vivid portrait of the everyday lives of girls and women at a turning point in Afghan history. Lyse Doucet visits Kabul to see how the lives of Afghan girls and women have changed since the fall of the Taliban 13 years ago, and to hear concerns that these hard-won gains are alre ... Show More
27 m
Aug 2022
The Taliban Takeover, One Year Later
One year ago this week, when the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, they promised to institute a modern form of Islamic government that honored women’s rights.That promise evaporated with a sudden decision to prohibit girls from going to high school, prompting questions about ... Show More
22m 55s
May 2022
Karzai: Afghanistan "doomed" unless women are included
In today's Amanpour, recorded live from Kabul, Christiane opens the show by interviewing former Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. He tells her that his country is doomed if women are not part of its future. Then, UN special envoy to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons, who's had more mee ... Show More
55m 28s
Apr 2023
The Education of Women and Girls in Afghanistan
Afghanistan and Women's Rights: A Recent HistoryIn the early 20th century, Afghanistan might have been described as one of the most progressive countries in Central Asia in terms of women's rights. Afghan women first became eligible to vote in 1919 - a year before the United Stat ... Show More
51m 49s
Nov 2021
The plight of girls under the Taliban
In Afghanistan, high schools are currently closed to girls, and women have been banned from TV dramas. So how hard is life for the female half of the population, as the Taliban reassert control?Tamasin Ford hears from her colleague Yalda Hakim, who recently returned to the Afghan ... Show More
18m 13s
Jan 2023
Afghan women
Since the Taliban returned to power some 18 months ago, women in Afghanistan have been removed from nearly all areas of public life. They are barred from secondary schools, universities and most workplaces and cannot even socialise in public parks. As Afghanistan faces a growing ... Show More
24m 3s