Fatima Amiri, a young Kabul student, who survived a deadly bombing at the Kaaj education center has been named one of the BBC 100 Women laureates for 2022.
Amiri, who sustained serious injuries in the September bombing, including the loss of an eye, is one of three Afghan women to be hailed as being of the most influential and inspirational in the world.
The other two Afghan women named are Zahra Joya, the founder of Rakhshana Media, and Tamana Paryani, a women’s rights activist.
Joya, Paryani and Amiri are listed alongside women role models including actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska and a number of Iranian activists to name just a few.
This year’s list was released by the BBC on Tuesday, December 6 and is the 10th season of 100 Women.
According to the BBC, while there have been huge steps forward for women’s rights, for women in many corners of the world it still feels like there is a long way to go.
“The list also reflects the role of women at the heart of conflict around the world in 2022 – from the protesters bravely demanding change in Iran, to the female faces of conflict and resistance in Ukraine and Russia,” the BBC said in a statement.
Fatima Amiri: Student
Afghan teenager, Fatima Amiri is one of the survivors of a suicide attack at a tuition centre in Kabul that killed more than 50 people, most of them female students. She sustained serious injuries, including the loss of an eye and severe damage to her jaw and ear.
Whilst recovering, she studied for her university entrance exams and sat them in October, scoring more than 85%. Her dream is now to study computer science at Kabul University and she says that losing her eye in the attack has only made her stronger and more determined.
Zahra Joya: Journalist
For six years under Taliban rule, Zahra Joya became ‘Mohammad’ and dressed as a boy to attend school. When US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 she returned to school as Zahra. She started working as a journalist in 2011 and was often the only female reporter in the newsroom.
She is the founder of Rukhshana Media, Afghanistan’s only all-women news agency. Joya was evacuated from Afghanistan in 2021 and now runs Rukhshana Media from exile in the UK. She won the Gates Foundation’s 2022 Changemaker Award.
“I believe in the soft power of words and we must speak about injustices against women,” she told BBC.
Tamana Zaryab Paryani: Activist
Days after taking part in a January rally calling for the right to education and work, Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her sisters were seen being forcibly taken from their home by armed men. Amid international condemnation and calls for their release, the Taliban denied involvement.
She managed to film her reactions to the arrest and posted it online. Paryani’s video went viral and brought attention to female activists who were disappearing. She spent three weeks in custody before being released. She is now living in Germany and, in solidarity with the women of Iran, she burnt her headscarf, a move that was seen as controversial by many Afghan women, BBC stated.
