Advancing gender equality and ensuring women’s rights is essential to the formation of a safe, prosperous Afghanistan that provides opportunities for advancement to all of its citizens. To build public knowledge about women’s rights under Islam, USAID's rule of law project has held 66 seminars on related topics throughout Afghanistan, bringing together 2,858 individuals in discussions on women’s rights. Debate is encouraged, and participants learn from legal experts, women’s rights activists, religious scholars, and each other. The final seminar was recently held in Kabul, during which participants discussed women’s rights in divorce.
This program has empowered women and provided them with the confidence to defend their own rights. As one women commented, “Coming to Women’s Rights Under Islam public discussion was the best day of the month for me. I am now equipped with knowledge I can use to promote women’s rights.” The conversations also changed how men view the rights of their wives within the family. One participant, having learned that the mahr (dowry) was the right of the bride, reported, “After the discussion on mahr, I went home and gave the amount that I had promised to my wife 15 years ago as her mahr.”