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Afghan human rights activist Maryam Durrani has reaped the benefits of her decades of advocacy by opening a new gym for women in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province.
Durrani, 36, is a women’s rights activist in the stronghold of the armed Taliban, who takes a conservative stance on women going out into public places.
Durrani runs a women’s radio station, served on county council and received the International Women of Courage Award from Michelle Obama in 2012, and last year she opened a women-only gym and now attracts 50 women every day.
She said shortly after working with the women that her reaction was very positive, because they needed exercises, and what bothered her was the reaction of some men who dealt negatively with the club, and insulted her because they believed that the club contradicts Sharia law. .
With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, after fighting with the Taliban 19 years ago, some women fear that the militant movement will exert its influence through official political channels, and the situation will return to the way it was when the Taliban ruled the country. country between 1996 and 2001, when it banned female education and banned Women leave the house without a male relative.
The Taliban say they have changed their hardened stances and behaviors, but many women remain skeptical, and Durrani said their only concern is the Taliban’s views on women’s rights and restrictions on freedoms they might impose.
She added that right now her focus is on serving the dozens of women who come to the club, who are a large segment of society, including housewives and women who work outside the home, and my only wish is that they be see us as a person in this community.
