The program provides women with an opportunity to throw off Afghanistan’s deeply entrenched gender roles and thrive in a new and challenging profession. Via ForeignPolicy
Layegha Marfat, 22, works on the demining team in Bamiyan, Afghanistan, on Sept. 18.As she combed through the red soil of her native Bamiyan province this August, 22-year-old Layegha Marfat felt her demining probe knock against something metallic. She carefully set down her tools and began to unearth a corner of the dinner plate-sized object by hand. It’s innocuous to the untrained eye, but Marfat immediately recognized the danger. It is a Soviet-era anti-personnel mine.
As the women work toward their broader goals, they are making their country safer, one mine at a time.Jamila, a 34-year-old member of the demining crew, in Bamiyan on Sept. 18.Despite oft-repeated claims of progress for Afghan women over the past 18 years, a raft of challenges remain. In conservative rural areas, women still struggle daily for recognition of their value, and they continue to face pervasive harassment and discrimination.
Zarah Atayee, who at 21 is the youngest woman on the demining team, at home with her father, who used to work as a deminer himself, and in the field in Bamiyan on Sept. 18.Atayee’s father supports her decision to work and is proud of her ability to support their family—it is the only thing putting food on their table. However, he also acknowledges the dangers that her job entails. “When she’s working in the field, we don’t know if she’ll come across a mine or not,” he said.
Afghanistan is one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the world.
Anti-personnel mines are often designed to maim, rather than to kill. The calculus is grimly pragmatic: If a soldier is killed, the mine has removed only one enemy from the battlefield. If merely injured, they require the help of other soldiers to evacuate them, effectively removing multiple combatants from the battlefield with a single explosion.
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