Episode 27: Gender Apartheid – Help or Hindrance?
Many feminists around the world believe that there is a war on against women and some are calling it “gender apartheid”. The global campaign to end gender apartheid focuses particularly on Iran and Afghanistan. In this episode we explore this term “gender apartheid” – where it came from and what some of the Femilemmas around it are. We look at its usefulness in addressing what is happening to women and girls in Iran and Afghanistan today. We speak to Dr. Sima Samar, the former Minister of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan and former chair of the Afghanistan Human Rights commission. We also hear from Roxanna Shapour, an Iranian and senior analyst from the Afghanistan Analysts Network, who has extensive experience in Afghanistan and in communications and media with the BBC and the UN, and we listen to Afghani women’s voices through the research of DROPS, the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies based in Afghanistan and its leader, Mariam Safi.
Join us and tell us what you think!
Note to our listeners: We recorded this episode prior to the horrific violence in Palestine and Israel. We join many others who are calling for an immediate cessation of the war on Gaza and accountability for crimes against humanity. Our next episode will focus on Feminist Foreign Policy and explore the complexities, contradictions and hypocrisies that emerge when governments and feminist networks proclaim their alignment with feminist principles without addressing fundamental power asymmetries and the devastating consequences of unfettered militarization.
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