Editing Pashtuns (section)

=== Women ===
Pashtun women are known to be modest and honourable because of their modest dressing.<ref>Ahmed, A. (2010). Women's Agency in Muslim Society. The SAGE Handbook of Islamic Studies, 22, 213</ref><ref>Agarwal, B. (1998). A field of one's own: Gender and land rights in South Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press.</ref> The lives of Pashtun women vary from those who reside in the ultra-conservative rural areas to those found in urban centres.<ref name="Women's Rights">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/report-azami.shtml|title=I have a right to|publisher=BBC World Service|date=16 January 2006|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref> At the village level, the female village leader is called "qaryadar". Her duties may include witnessing women's ceremonies, mobilizing women to practice religious festivals, preparing the female dead for burial, and performing services for deceased women. She also arranges marriages for her own family and arbitrates conflicts for men and women.<ref name="Harvard">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/ilsp/research/kakar.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/ilsp/research/kakar.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|title=Tribal Law of Pashtunwali and Women's Legislative Authority|work=law.harvard.edu|publisher=[[Harvard University]]}}</ref> Though many Pashtun women remain tribal and illiterate, some have completed universities and joined the regular employment world.<ref name="Women's Rights" />

[[File:Shinzō Abe and Malala Yousafzai (1) Cropped.jpg|175px|thumb|[[Malala Yousafzai]], Pakistani activist for female education and the 2014 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] laureate]]
The decades of war and the rise of the Taliban [[Taliban treatment of women|caused considerable hardship]] among Pashtun women, as many of their rights have been curtailed by a rigid interpretation of [[Sharia|Islamic law]]. The difficult lives of Afghan female refugees gained considerable notoriety with the iconic image ''[[Afghan Girl]]'' (Sharbat Gula) depicted on the June 1985 cover of ''[[National Geographic Magazine|National Geographic]]'' magazine.<ref name="Sharbat Gula">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/storyA_story.html|title=Along Afghanistan's War-torn Frontier|work=National Geographic|date=June 1985|access-date=10 October 2006|archive-date=9 November 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109082729/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/100best/storyA_story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Modern social reform for Pashtun women began in the early 20th century, when Queen [[Soraya Tarzi]] of Afghanistan made rapid reforms to improve women's lives and their position in the family. She was the only woman to appear on the list of rulers in Afghanistan. Credited with having been one of the first and most powerful Afghan and Muslim female activists. Her advocacy of social reforms for women led to a protest and contributed to the ultimate demise of [[Amanullah Khan|King Amanullah]]'s reign in 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/JournalofInternationalWomensStudies/2003/Vol4Nr3May/Afghanistan.pdf|title=A History of Women in Afghanistan: Lessons Learnt for the Future|work=Huma Ahmed-Ghosh|publisher=Aletta, Institute for Women's History|date=May 2003|access-date=2 December 2010|archive-date=18 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518125237/http://www.iiav.nl/ezines/web/JournalofInternationalWomensStudies/2003/Vol4Nr3May/Afghanistan.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Civil rights]] remained an important issue during the 1970s, as feminist leader [[Meena Keshwar Kamal]] campaigned for [[women's rights in Afghanistan|women's rights]] and founded the [[Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan]] (RAWA) in the 1977.<ref name="RAWA">{{cite web|url=http://www.rawa.org/waves.htm|title=Making Waves: Interview with RAWA|work=RAWA.org|date=16 January 2006|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref>

Pashtun women these days vary from the traditional housewives who live in seclusion to urban workers, some of whom seek or have attained parity with men.<ref name="Women's Rights" /> But due to numerous social hurdles, the literacy rate remains considerably lower for them than for males.<ref name="Afghan women literacy">{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/laura-bush-meets-afghan-women/|title=Laura Bush Meets Afghan Women|publisher=CBS News|date=16 January 2006|access-date=10 October 2006|archive-date=28 April 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060428010424/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/29/world/main683742.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> Abuse against women is present and increasingly being challenged by women's rights organizations which find themselves struggling with conservative religious groups as well as government officials in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to a 1992 book, "a powerful ethic of forbearance severely limits the ability of traditional Pashtun women to mitigate the suffering they acknowledge in their lives."<ref name="Paxtun Women">{{cite book|last=Grima|first=Benedicte|year=1992|title=Performance of Emotion Among Paxtun Women|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=0-292-72756-9}}</ref>

Further challenging the status quo, [[Vida Samadzai]] was selected as Miss Afghanistan in 2003, a feat that was received with a mixture of support from those who back the individual rights of women and those who view such displays as anti-traditionalist and un-Islamic. Some have attained political office in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4434782.stm|title=Warlords and women in uneasy mix|first=Andrew|last=North|publisher=BBC News|date=14 November 2005|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref> A number of Pashtun women are found as TV hosts, journalists and actors.<ref name=Khyber /> In 1942, [[Madhubala]] (Mumtaz Jehan), the [[Marilyn Monroe]] of India, entered the [[Bollywood]] film industry.<ref name="Devasher2022">{{cite book|last1=Devasher|first1=Tilak|title=The Pashtuns: A Contested History|date=15 September 2022|publisher=Harper Collins|isbn=978-93-94407-64-0|language=en|quote=The Pashtuns have made a vital contribution in diverse spheres of life: all rulers of Afghanistan since 1747, except for a nine-month interlude in 1929 and between 1992 and 1996, have been Pashtuns. In Pakistan, Ayub Khan, a Tarin Pashtun, as also Gen. Yahya Khan and Ghulam Ishaq Khan, became presidents; in India, Zakir Hussain, an Afridi Pashtun, became president. Muhammed Yusuf Khan (Dilip Kumar) and Mumtaz Jahan (Madhubala) were great Bollywood actors; Mansoor Ali Khan (Tiger Pataudi) led the Indian cricket team;}}</ref> Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s starred [[Parveen Babi]], who hailed from the lineage of Gujarat's historical Pathan community: the royal [[Babi Dynasty]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Khanna|first1=Anshu|title=Remembering the Brightest of the Babis|url=https://thedailyguardian.com/remembering-the-brightest-of-the-babis/|publisher=Daily Guardian|date=22 January 2021}}</ref> Other Indian actresses and models, such as [[Zarine Khan]], continue to work in the industry.<ref name="pathan">{{cite news|last=Dalal|first=Mangal|title=When men were men|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/when-men-were-men/564691/0|newspaper=The Indian Express|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100211074052/https://indianexpress.com/news/when-men-were-men/564691/0|archive-date=11 February 2010|access-date=23 August 2013|quote="She's a Pathan girl who speaks Hindi and Urdu well and was spectacular in the screen test. It was pure luck."|date=8 January 2010}}</ref> During the 1980s many Pashtun women served in the ranks of the [[Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghan communist regime's Military]]. [[Khatol Mohammadzai]] served paratrooper during the [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|Afghan Civil War]] and was later promoted to [[brigadier general]] in the [[Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghan Army]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Yousafzai|first=Sami|date=28 November 2011|title=Afghanistan: The Trials of Woman Paratrooper Khatool Mohammadzai|url=http://www.newsweek.com/afghanistan-trials-woman-paratrooper-khatool-mohammadzai-66285|magazine=Newsweek|access-date=22 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131122045549/http://www.newsweek.com/afghanistan-trials-woman-paratrooper-khatool-mohammadzai-66285|archive-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> [[Nigar Johar]] is a [[three-star rank|three-star general]] in the Pakistan Army, another Pashtun female became a fighter [[Aviator|pilot]] in the [[Pakistan Air Force]].<ref name="Female Pilots">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4533367.stm|title=Pakistan's first women fighter pilots|first=Zaffar|last=Abbas|publisher=BBC News|date=11 May 2005|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref> 
Pashtun women often have their legal rights curtailed in favour of their husbands or male relatives. For example, though women are officially [[women's suffrage|allowed to vote]] in Pakistan, some have been kept away from [[ballot box]]es by males.<ref name="BBC Women">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/report-azami.shtml|title=I have a right to – Muhammad Dawood Azami: Pashto|publisher=BBC World Service|access-date=10 October 2006}}</ref>