The right to be named

Just call her Bitch?

In Afghanistan, family members often force women to keep their name a secret from people outside the family, even doctors. Using a woman’s name in public is frowned upon and can be considered an insult. Many Afghan men are reluctant to say the names of their sisters, wives or mothers in public. Women are generally only referred to as the mother, daughter or sister of the eldest male in their family, and Afghan law dictates that only the father’s name should be recorded on a birth certificate.

Of course that’s not completely strange to us in the so much more progressive part of the world. Not many decades ago it was pretty normal to refer to a woman as Mrs Charles Dudeguy and leave it at that. It wasn’t taboo to know her first name, and informally it was ok to call her Jane Dudeguy, but it was quite possible to read a news story (for instance) that referred to a woman solely as Mrs Man’s Name.

But it’s even worse in Afghanistan. It’s as if societies compete to see which ones can most completely obliterate and conceal women. Here we’ve given up on the niqabs and no names approach, and instead we replace women with men who say they are women – they do it much better. (Except for the sex part. Since that’s by far the most important use for women, that’s a bit of a problem, but technology will probably come up with a fix soon.)

But some Afghan women are now campaigning to use their names freely, with the slogan “Where Is My Name?” The campaign began three years ago when Laleh Osmany realised she was fed up with women being denied what she thought was a “basic right”.

Well, yes, because if you’re only ever referred to as Man’s Possession you begin to wonder if you’re just an object, like a kettle.

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