Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Narratives Of Agency: Women, Islam, And The Politics Of Economic Participation In Afghanistan, Farhana Rahman

Journal of International Women's Studies

This paper analyzes Afghan businesswomen’s experiences and their attempts at engaging in the economic sector, and the manner in which they have navigated political, social, and cultural impediments to build and sustain economic enterprises, to reclaim agency in the post-Taliban era. Through in-depth interviews with three Afghan businesswomen in conjunction with observations of their daily lives, this discussion explores how Afghan businesswomen negotiate between international discourses on women’s employment and work, and hyper-conservative values of Afghan society that prevent women from accessing economic opportunities. The businesswomen highlighted in this paper legitimize their place in economic participation and employment, in many …