Religion and Politics

A Thin Line of Defense Against “Honor Killings”

In The New York Times, Alissa J. Rubin reports on the emergency women’s shelters in Afghanistan that provide a final line of protection from honor killings. “These shelters, almost entirely funded by Western donors, are one of the most successful — and provocative — legacies of the Western presence in Afghanistan, demonstrating that women need protection from their families and can make their own choices,” writes Rubin. “[A]llowing women to decide for themselves raises the prospect that men might not control the order of things, as they have for centuries. This is a revolutionary idea in Afghanistan — every bit as alien as Western democracy and far more transgressive.”

Read at The New York Times

• Email
• Print