Troubled Tazikistan: Women Caught Between Civil War
A few years after the worst of the fighting has subsided, so many households are managed by women, widows by the war. Yet even after 70 years of the communism, the Tajik women were still sequestered in certain roles. With the communist state destroyed, they have been left on their own, seeking jobs, money and survival. They have returned to farm labor, menial jobs and desperation. Militias, goondas and gangs rule the streets and the highways of the country. Women are forced under the authority of fierce warlords. Prostitution is once again evident in parks of Dushanbe (the nation’s capital). Abortion rates have skyrocketed. To some, influenced by the Iranian revolution or the neighboring Taleban, they see Islamis Sharia law is best way to protect their women. While others want a return to the heavy hand of a communist dictatorship. In Tajikistan, the voices of women are being repressed and the brutality of the decaying world imposed upon an isolated land no one sees.
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