Afghanistan Unveiled: Women in Islamic Cinema

When addressing the issue of women in the Middle East, analyzing gender and its representation is an important issue. Universal comparisons are not a useful tool when doing such, and according to Diane Singerman, the “question of women” has often been used to legitimize intervention by colonial powers. Many times these Western powers, formerly Europe and increasingly the United States, are not women’s rights activists in their own country, and yet use the supposed struggle of women in the Middle East as an excuse for intervention. Afghanistan plays a key role in this debate, and an extraordinary film, Afghanistan Unveiled, shows how the supposed “question of women” must be addressed within a thoughtful historical debate. As Singerman proposes in her chapter, “Gender and Politics”, from the book Politics and Society of the Contemporary Middle East, patriarchy, like many other issues, has a foundation in history; therefore, it can have a historical end.
In 2002, a group of young female journalists filmed the experiences of women in Afghanistan, which was experiencing the aftershock of the Taliban’s departure. For the first time in Afghani history, women were allowed to interview and film other women about the hardships of their lives, the difficulties of having lost loved ones, and the economic challenges they face every day. The documentary is eye opening and riveting, both about the opportunities allowed for women in Kabul and the lack thereof that are available to most women in the countryside. Seeing as the film was shot extremely recently following the end of the Taliban’s regime, these experiences are fresh in the collective memory of the women portrayed in the film, which makes it even more accurate.
The shocking difference between the metropolitan women and the powerless women of the more rural areas is a stark reality very accurately portrayed in the film. It is clear from the access to education, travel, and equipment, as well as social cues such as dress and language that the journalists belong to a far higher socioeconomic status than most of their subjects, who are often rural and uneducated. One woman tells an emotional story about how a man wanted her for marriage, and when she refused, she was forced to go into hiding. She weeps as she expresses her strongest desire- to study and receive an education; however, she is too scared to even leave her house. The chaduri, full-length veil covering the entire body and face, is another key point in the film; it is representative of the larger social and class issues that are at play. One of the journalists remarks that when she traveled to Jalalabad, she is the only woman in the street and is the only woman they encounter who does not wear the chaduri.
While issues regarding women’s rights are obviously critical when looking at the Middle East, Singerman reminds her readers that men in the region also have limited political rights, due to the monarchical structure of many of those societies. When looking at women’s role in Islamic cinema, Donmez-Colin looks at the history of women as subjects, viewers, and finally filmmakers themselves in Islamic societies. In Iran, for example, only non-Muslim women were portrayed until 1933, and until today the defintion of women’s value is directly linked to the representation of her sexuality. And while these issues are of grave importance, Afghanistan Unveiled is a powerful and moving documentary that shows the strength of women in Afghanistan as representing women all over the Middle East in overcoming obstacles and demanding representation.