Womens Rights in Afganastan

While reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, I was shocked about how Mariam was treated and now normal that appeared to her.  I have never been exposed to that sort of treatment to women because we live in the United States (a lot of women are abused but not like Mariam).  It was hard for me to believe that this book was set in 60's and 70's because only 50 years ago, young girls were forced to marry 45 year olds.  The worst part is that this is still happening.  My first problem with this book was how it was acceptable for Mariam's father to have 3 wives.  My second problem was how she was married to an extremely older man just so her dad would have Mariam out of his hair.  My third problem was how Rasheed treated Mariam (the worst part was the rock chewing).
The sad part that in Afghanistan, women's rights have only improved a little since this book took place. Only about 5.8% of women over 25 in Afghanistan have a secondary education and 15% can read and write.  Our school has 1,312 students and 649 females (Thank you Mr. Dormer for giving me these numbers). Using those number, only about 37 girls in our school would grow up to have a secondary education in Afghanistan and only 97 could read and write. That's insane. On the bright side, 27.8% of the members of parliament are women.  It's a small number but at least some women are helping to make a difference.  Afghanistan is still a patriarchal society (men are more powerful than women) and arranged marriages are still very common. Family's have engagements contracts to basically sell their daughters, and it is not uncommon for a girl to already have an arranged marriage before she is even born!!!  And worst of all, if a women wants a divorce she has to have permission from her husband and witnesses claiming that the divorce is "justified".
Before reading A Thousand Splendid Suns I had never even thought about women in different countries not having the same rights that I do.  I never thought about how in some countries it was normal for a women to be treated like a piece of property.  I took for granted things like education and picking my own husband that girls in other countries would (and have) died for. A Thousand Splendid Suns has opened my eyes to the unfair treatment of women in other counties and I will never take my rights as a women in the United States for granted ever again.