Women’s day is round the corner and like every year, conversations around gender equality are in full swing. However, it’s a group of male Afghan women’s rights activists who have won the day with their act of solidarity towards women’s rights in Kabul.
Ahead of the International Women’s Day on March 8, these men covered themselves in bright blue burqas from top to bottom and marched through the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul to draw attention towards women rights. This kind of burqa, which even covers the face of women with a mesh, is the biggest symbol of suppression of women in the country, so these men tried to explain to the world how difficult it is for women to even walk around in the attire.
Armed with signs reading “equality” and “Don’t tell women what to wear, you should cover your eyes”, these 20 men dressed in burqas drew mixed reactions from the onlookers. While some saw the protest as pointless and termed it as a western move, the others actually allowed women to go out of the homes without the burqa.