“She could be dismissed as a dokhtar zai, or “she who only brings daughters.” Still, this is not as grave an insult as what an entirely childless woman could be called—a sanda or khoshk, meaning “dry” in Dari. But a… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“When one gender is so unwanted, so despised, and so suppressed in a place where daughters are expressly unwanted, perhaps both the body and the mind of a growing human can be expected to revolt against becoming a woman. And… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Afghanistan, believed by anthropologists to be one of the original historical meeting places between the East and the West, has in fact seen and… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“I hear her smiling when she describes her outfit: “I made myself fashionable. And diplomatic. They all took my picture. The BBC, Voice of… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“In Afghanistan, not much is for certain other than an open sky and eventual death. In between the two is family.” — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Since many donor countries required development projects—from agriculture to politics—to consider specifically how the lives of Afghan women were to be improved, Kabul had… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“The harem could not be supervised by men because they posed a potential threat to the women’s chastity and the king’s bloodline. These women… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Nancy had neither seen nor heard of girls who dressed as boys and could think of no documentation on the topic through all her… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Tell me,” I ask Siddiqua, “what is the secret to being married for so long?” She looks at me like I am clueless. “It’s… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“She could be dismissed as a dokhtar zai, or “she who only brings daughters.” Still, this is not as grave an insult as what… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Those hundreds of “gender projects” funded by aid money might have been more effective if they had also included men. The fact that Westerners… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“In Pashto, Afghanistan’s second official language, there is even a deprecating name for a man who has no sons: He is a meraat, referring… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“It is not just a human rights argument, it is the Warren Buffett argument and the Christine Lagarde argument: Countries that want to develop… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
“Louis Duprée described this contradiction in his work on Afghanistan: “Islam, in essence, is not a backward, anti-progressive, anti-modern religion, although many of its… — Jenny Nordberg Copy Share Image
