QNYC Event Highlight: Queens Human Rights Advocate Talks About 'Women in Afghanistan, Women in Islam'

In 2009, Afghanistan passed a law giving Shia men the right to deny their wives food if the women don’t obey their sexual demands. (Shia is a version of Islam.) This legislation also required women to get permission from their husbands if they wanted to work and granted legal guardianship of children to the fathers and even grandfathers, instead of mothers. However, in 2010, advocates were successful in passing the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act, which strengthens sanctions against various forms of violence against women, including making rape a crime for the first time under Afghan law. On April 15, Naheed Bahram will discuss women’s rights in this war-torn country during a special presentation at the Central Queens Y. Bahram, Queens chapter program director for NY Women for Afghan Women — which supports literacy, job education and health care while respecting Afghan traditions and practices — left Afghanistan after the loss of her mother in a bomb explosion in Kabul. Her family migrated to Pakistan, where she graduated from high school and taught English at refugee camps. In 2004, Bahram moved to the U.S., and started working for NY WAW as an intern and volunteer in 2007. She graduated from Queens College in 2011 and currently works full time for NY WAW.