{"id":45615,"date":"2024-12-17T14:10:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=45615"},"modified":"2024-12-17T14:10:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T19:10:09","slug":"ghafari-afghan-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/ghafari-afghan-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Master\u2019s Student Advocates for Afghanistan’s Girls and Women"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having served as one of her country\u2019s only female mayors, Zarifa Ghafari is studying public policy to inform her activism<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story was adapted from <\/em>a feature<\/em><\/a> in the<\/em> Cornell Chronicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Caitlin Hayes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even before she took office in 2019, Zarifa Ghafari\u2014the youngest and one of the only female mayors to serve in Afghanistan\u2014became a target of the Taliban. She survived multiple assassination attempts, and in 2020, her father was fatally shot outside his home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She fled the country with her family in August 2021, when the Taliban took control, and was heartbroken a month later, when she watched from Germany as the new regime banned secondary education for girls. She\u2019s since dedicated her life to fighting for the rights of girls and women living under Taliban rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future of countless young girls was dismantled so abruptly, and years of hard-won progress appeared to vanish overnight,\u201d says Ghafari, now a master\u2019s student in the Brooks School of Public Policy<\/a>. \u201cMy immediate reaction was a torrent of anger, deep sadness, a sense of profound injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The future of countless young girls was dismantled so abruptly, and years of hard-won progress appeared to vanish overnight.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Before becoming mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital city in conservative Wardak Province, Ghafari established Assistance and Promotion for Afghan Women, an organization dedicated to uplifting Afghan women, and ran Peghla FM Radio, which broadcast information across Wardak Province about women\u2019s rights, politics, economics, and social development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since leaving Afghanistan, she\u2019s become a vocal human rights activist and advocate, working to raise awareness of the current plight of Afghan girls and women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In 2019, she was included on the BBC\u2019s list of 100 Inspiring and Influential Women and was honored in 2020 by the U.S. secretary of state as an International Woman of Courage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has also published a memoir, Zarifa: A Woman\u2019s Battle in a Man\u2019s World<\/em><\/a>, and been the focus of a Netflix documentary, In Her Hands<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZarifa\u2019s story is one of commitment and determination in the face of great personal risk\u2014and her advocacy on behalf of Afghan girls and women is the epitome of doing \u2018the greatest good,\u2019\u201d says Interim President Mike Kotlikoff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honored to have her as part of the Cornell community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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While the situation in Afghanistan has changed, Ghafari\u2019s conviction about the importance of education for Afghan girls and women has not\u2014and she plans to use her time in Ithaca and her Cornell degree to continue the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to learn more about policy-making and implementation,\u201d says Ghafari, who hopes to establish opportunities for Afghan girls and women on the Hill. \u201cCornell also has a great network, and I want to raise awareness and get broader support for women in Afghanistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ghafari was 7 or 8, she noticed that she was being treated differently than her brothers\u2014and she didn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Zarifa
Jason Koski \/ Cornell University<\/figcaption>
Ghafari (center) at a rally outside Day Hall, led by the Organization for Afghan Students<\/a> in December 2024. The event’s aims included thanking Cornell for hosting students from Afghanistan; calling for expanded opportunities for the nation’s women; and raising awareness about gender apartheid there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThere were restrictions around my life more and more, and I looked at myself and my brothers, and I didn\u2019t understand. I was a human being with full humanity and so were they,\u201d Ghafari says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018What\u2019s the possible way to get out of this?\u2019 And the answer was: I needed to be well-educated. That was the starting point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She attended primary and secondary school in Afghanistan, and then earned bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in India. In 2018, back in Afghanistan, her fianc\u00e9 (now husband) suggested she put her name in the running for mayor of Maidan Shahr\u2014a city where women and girls are scarcely seen in the streets, never mind in public office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Zarifa\u2019s story is one of commitment and determination in the face of great personal risk.<\/p>\nInterim President Mike Kotlikoff<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a clear decision for me when I started,\u201d Ghafari says. \u201cBut as soon as my name was announced on the longlist, I felt there was a movement against me, and I felt that there was something I am able to do that no one else can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine months of protests and threats followed Ghafari\u2019s appointment and prevented her from even entering her office. Once installed, she endured constant threats, survived numerous assassination attempts, and feared for her life, but she turned down offers from the central Afghan government for a safer position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt I needed to take the risk,\u201d she says, \u201cto continue in the path of other women and break down barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2020, her father, an Afghan Army colonel, was assassinated by Taliban militants on the street outside the family home in Kabul. Ghafari grieved and questioned, but, with her mother\u2019s encouragement, decided to stay on in her position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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