In a corner of this world, in a country called Afghanistan, we are women and girls who still have to prove that being a woman does not mean having less intelligence. We live in a society where women are still sometimes described as “deficient in reason” or “less intelligent,” as if intelligence were something distributed according to gender, with women receiving a smaller share.
We have repeatedly witnessed women being called “less intelligent” within their families and in society. When a woman wants to take part in important family decisions, she is often told that her judgment cannot be right simply because she is a woman. Even in deeply personal matters, such as marriage and divorce, women are denied the right to make their own decisions. Men in the family decide the course of their lives, while women are left with no choice but to spend their lives enduring or accepting the consequences of decisions made by others.
Even in small family matters, such as buying a new household item or making a minor change to daily life, women are not allowed to have a say. Their decisions are often unacceptable to the men around them. What is particularly regrettable, however, is that many women have accepted or become accustomed to this way of thinking. Some have come to regard being called “less intelligent” as normal, avoid participating in important life decisions, and see decision-making as a man’s responsibility.
We have often heard women say things like: “This is men’s business,” “Let’s wait and see what the men decide,” “Don’t interfere in men’s affairs,” or “Let the men make the final decision.” These statements are repeated in many families and help reinforce the conditions that allow discrimination against women to continue. Many Afghan women take no action to challenge this situation, while others are afraid to speak up or become involved in decisions that affect their lives.
But this issue raises several questions in my mind: Why should a person’s gender be considered before their thoughts? Why do we judge a woman’s intelligence based on the fact that she is a woman before even listening to what she has to say? Why is it so difficult for men to accept that women possess the same capacity for reason and intelligence as men, and that neither is superior to the other in this regard?
We women do not want to be given more attention simply because we are women. We only want to be treated equally because we are human beings. Equality is the right of every human being, and women are human beings too. Yet today, many women are deprived of fundamental rights simply because of their gender, including the right to live freely and make their own choices.
Intelligence has no gender. Reason has no gender. Understanding, talent, dreams, and humanity have no gender either. What matters is how we, as human beings, perceive these qualities. Sadly, however, we continue to divide them along gender lines, as though one gender possesses a greater share of intelligence and reason than the other. This unjust division creates the conditions for discrimination against women and reinforces the belief in male superiority.
Perhaps one day, no one will place a ceiling above a girl’s head that is lower than her dreams. Perhaps one day, no woman will be asked how much she understands simply because she is a woman. Instead, people will listen to what she has to say and recognize what she can create and what she is capable of achieving. We are still waiting for that day, a day when being a woman will no longer be a reason to consider a human being less valuable. Gender may distinguish us from one another, but it should never be used as a measure of our intelligence or human worth.
