RAWA: Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan

Afghan women have been struggling for centuries for their rights. From education to better health care to respect as partners in nation building. But unfortunately, they have been persecuted, denied their rightful place in society. Not only the Taliban, but the Mujaheddins and the warloards before them have used voilence againt womne to intimidate the people. They encouraged religious fundamentalism and sectarian divide to ensure that women will nenevr be able to challenge their authority. Meena an, Afghan activist saw this injustice upon women as a child grpwing up in

Kabul. She decided that if women are to have a respectful place in Afghan society, they should be involved in the strullge to achieve. So she, along with a number of motivate women, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in 1977.

RAWA is an independent organization working with Afghan women in their fight for human rights and social justice. Just 11 years after founding the organization, Meena was assassinated by the Afghan agents, with the help of fundamentalist warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in

Quetta, . She has moved to after receiving numerous threats from the establishment. During the Soviet occupation of , RAWA was actively involved in “resistance movement”. Spreading leaflets against the Russians, urging Afghans to fight against the occupation, and speaking about women’s rights. For a traditional Afghan society, the strength shown by RAWA women in their fight for the nation and their rights was something never seen before. Many were skeptical, but there were people who supported RAWA activists.




To gather support and spread their message, RAWA started the publication of bilingual magazine called “Payam-e-Zan” in 1981. The magazine is published in Persian/Pashto. By-issues are published in English and Urdu. Many women came in touch with RAWA through the magazine; some later became active RAWA members.