Celebrating Afghan Women's Rights
By Beth Herzinger - The Daily Iowan
Sunita Mehta's book has been her ticket to communities all over the world, including an anticipated return to Iowa City-- the place in which her inspiration began.
She will read from Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future, at 8 p.m today at Prairie Lights Books. The book, which Mehta edited, contains a collection of essays from a wide variety of women, both Afghan and American.
"I'm very excited to be in Iowa City for International Women's Day,"she told The Daily Iowan in a phone interview Thursday. "It's the place on Earth where I decided to devote my life to women's issues."
She came to Iowa City in 1993 to work at the Emma Goldman Clinic as the community program assistant. She wrote press releases and spoke at such events as Take Back the Night. The job inspired her to realize the powerand potential of grassroot's women's organizations.
"It's such an honor that that's where I honed my skills," she said.
Mehta is a co-founder of Women for Afghan Women, a collective of Afghan and non-Afghan women committed to ensuring the human rights of women in Afghanistan. The group began in April 2001.
"Our work in New York led us to many amazing young women with concernsand energy but no organization through which to work," she said. "We began outreach to bring as many new and interesting women together as we could who were dedicated to working against the current human-rights violations in Afghanistan."
The group began work on a conference to bring together scholars andactivists in a discussion forum. The 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York had a deep effect on the work of the organization.
"We are a New York-based group and experienced a double grief as a resultof the horrific attacks," Mehta said. "First, there was the tragedy in our city. Second, we experienced grief knowing that the response would be an attack on the country in which our activism was based and that some of us called home."
The planned conference, "Securing Our Future," took place in November 2001 with the same speakers but a much different message and goal. Women for Afghan Women invited speakers with a variety of different views, including those with feminist, theological, and academic perspectives.
Women for Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Claiming the Future was inspired and made possible by the conference.
A representative from St. Martin's Press attended the conference, and after witnessing the first panel discussion, he walked down the block to his office and returned in time for the second panel with a book deal.
"The book is our passport to getting audiences in small communities,"Mehta said. "It helps us channel energy into communities we love and will not give up on."
In addition to planning a third annual conference in the fall, her group maintains a commitment to community outreach in New York City. The organization raises funds for the emerging women leaders in Afghanistan, and it is committed to personally delivering money to those who need it most.
Mehta also serves as the director of grants at the Sister Fund, a private women's fund that brings financial support to local grassroots projects. She sees her work as a bridge between organizations with different methods and ideas whose goal is the same.
"We really try to hold together various segments often severed against each other to create dialogue and to use our energy to reach out, rather than fighting each other," she said.
At tonight's event, she will read sections of the book that feature various and diverse voices of women involved in work for Afghanistan.
"At the end of the day, and at the end of the chapters, everyone is saying the same thing," Mehta said. "Women need to be a part of building our societies."
Women for Afghan Women will continue its activism to maintain a semblance of stability in Afghanistan while knowing that the future is fragile and could be taken away at any moment because of lack of funds or the possibility of war.
"The road we're on is divided, and the forces are against us," she said."But the energy we feel is an experience of a moment of hope against all odds."
Despite Mehta's global focus, she looks forward to her return to Iowa City, bringing her life's passion full circle.
"I left a piece of my heart in Iowa City," she said. "It means the world to me."
E-mail DI reporter Beth Herzinger at:
beth-herzinger@uiowa.edu