By Abigail Forsyth, year 11
Image: Shamsia Hassani, a street artist based in Afghanistan, poses beside one of her many powerful paintings, which represents hope and feminism
Our social impact project is based on gender inequality in Afghanistan. We chose this topic specifically as a mentor class because the Taliban invasion of Afghanistan was the main news headline at the time in 2021 when we chose the project; Afghani women, whose lives have been severely restricted by the Taliban’s ethnic beliefs, are facing the collapse of their basic human rights. This was also the case when the Talian ruled the country in 1996, until American forces forced them to relinquish power in 2001. Despite being on a different continent, we are determined to support Afghani women by raising awareness of their cause and current situation. Only last week, the Taliban government announced that girls’ secondary schools, which were scheduled to open, were to remain closed for the foreseeable future.
As a mentor group, we are researching female Afghani artists, who use their artwork as messages to rebel against
Taliban rule and promote gender equality. We have divided our class into small groups, each tasked with a different job: a social media group (our Instagram account is The Powerful Afghani Women), a group working with Middle School students, a group researching talented, female Afghani artists, and a group focused on fundraising activities (details of such events will be shared on the Instagram account).
By the end of the academic year, we hope to have spread awareness of this cause and to have raised a few funds in order to support these artists.
We believe that our social impact project is significant because, at its core, it is a question of morality and humanity; everyone should be treated as they wish to be treated themselves.
