Afghan feminists fighting from under the burqa

(The Guardian): As a committed feminist, there are few symbols of women’s oppression that Parween hates more than the burqa. But compromises are necessary in a country where fighting for women’s rights can be a controversial and dangerous business, and she is not above donning the all-concealing garment if it helps her to stay one step ahead of the authorities. "I don’t like the burqa, but sometimes I have no choice when I’m moving around Kabul – it’s a great disguise," she says. Parween, who is in her mid 20s, is not using her real name. She is a member of one of the country’s most intriguing and secretive organisations: the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, or Rawa – regarded as a dangerously subversive outfit by the authorities.

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