Sgt. Michelle Naylor, on her third tour in Afghanistan, speaks to women Thursday during a series of discussions on women’s rights. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Sgt. Michelle Naylor, on her third tour in Afghanistan, speaks to women Thursday during a series of discussions on women’s rights. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
A group of Afghan women make their way to Albirooni University on Thursday to hear a series of speakers touting women's rights. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
NASAGI GULBAR, Afghanistan — It took about 150 years for women to get the right to vote in the United States, and decades longer to achieve equal rights under the law. So in some respects, women are off to a solid start in a democratic Afghanistan.
About 150 women gathered Thursday at Albirooni University to hear a series of speakers tout women’s rights in a country where — especially under the Taliban — females have long been considered second-class citizens.
“As women, we want to have equal rights when it comes to this society,” said Shirin Sahar, one of the event’s organizers.
Parween Kohistani, director of women’s affairs for the province of Kapisa, said the U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power provided a big boost for women.
“It has improved a lot in the last three years,” she said through a translator.
Another translator was needed for one of the event’s keynote speakers: Sgt. Michelle Naylor.
The New York native is serving her third tour in Afghanistan. She grew up a short distance from Seneca Falls, a key spot in the women’s suffrage movement in the 1920s.
The Afghan women, as Naylor pointed out, made up about 40 percent of those casting votes in the country’s first presidential elections last year. She told the audience that she hoped an even higher percentage would turn out in the parliamentary elections, scheduled for sometime this year.
Naylor said she’s not used to speaking in front of so many people, but she said this issue is an important one. She brushed off any pressure about being a role model — dressed in desert camouflage — for hundreds of women.
“Every female who goes outside the wire here is a role model,” she said.
In her speech, Naylor touched on a few of the key events in the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Then she told her audience that they can expect moral support, but not as much help as they might like from the United States and its allies.
“Every woman in every country has struggled to gain their rights,” she said. “Gaining your rights is something you need to do for yourselves.”
After the speakers were finished, Naylor and a handful of civil affairs soldiers handed out hundreds of new dresses the military had purchased from local tailors. There were also dozens of toys for the kids who came along with them.
The soldiers then ate lunch with their hosts before taking the bumpy road back to Bagram Air Base, leaving the Afghan women to face a path with more than a few rough stretches of its own.
