# Afghan Women's Stories: the Problematics of Cover

Afghan women in burkas have become iconic representations of women's oppression in western media, but this representation is contested in various ways by Afghan women and men. The most common observation by Afghan women activists is that we westerners should get over it, that the burka, hot, uncomfortable and inconvenient as it is, is certainly not their most pressing problem. It has even proved useful at times as an enabling device to preserve women's mobility and anonymity under circumstances of surveillance or constraint. Westerners have their own preoccupations with visual access and its meanings, reflective of our ideas about bodily privacy and self-determination. This talk, illustrated with Afghan women's folktales and personal reminiscences about the use and misuse of cover, both imaginary and actual, explores how Afghan women understand and strategize around constraints on their public presence and social authority. These observations are used to reflect on certain recent mismanaged representations of Afghan women and families in global media and their repercussions for the women so represented.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2007
- By: Archive Of Folk Culture (library Of Congress)
- Genres: Documentary, Education, History, Religion
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2010655323/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2010655323?play=1)