WHY WE FIGHT: Afghan Girls Forced Into Boyhood

BBC: When Azita Rafhat, a former member of the Afghan parliament, gets her daughters ready for school, she dresses one of the girls differently. Three of her daughters are clothed in white garments and their heads covered with white scarves, but a fourth girl, Mehrnoush, is dressed in a suit and tie. When they get outside, Mehrnoush is no longer a girl but a boy named Mehran. Azita Rafhat didn’t have a son, and to fill the gap and avoid people’s taunts for not having a son, she opted for this radical decision. It was very simple, thanks to a haircut and some boyish clothes. There is even a name for this tradition in Afghanistan – Bacha Posh, or disguising girls as boys. “When you have a good position in Afghanistan and are well off, people look at you differently. They say your life becomes complete only if you have a son,” she says. MORE