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WORLD NEWS Saturday 15 January 2022

Afghan tradition allows girls to access the freedom of boys

By MSTYSLAV CHERNOV tion," Barfield noted.
and ELENA BECATOROS The reasons parents might
Associated Press want a bacha posh vary.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — With sons traditionally val-
In a Kabul neighborhood, ued more than daughters,
a gaggle of boys kick a the practice usually occurs
yellow ball around a dusty in families without a boy.
playground, their boister- Some consider it a status
ous cries echoing off the symbol, and some believe
surrounding apartment it will bring good luck for
buildings. the next child to be born a
Dressed in sweaters and boy.
jeans or the traditional But for others, like Sanam's
Afghan male clothing of family, the choice was one
baggy pants and long shirt, of necessity. Last year, with
none stand out as they Afghanistan's economy
jostle to score a goal. But collapsing, construction
unbeknown to them, one is work dried up. Sanam's fa-
different from the others. ther, already suffering from
At not quite 8 years old, a back injury, lost his job as
Sanam is a bacha posh: a a plumber. He turned to
girl living as a boy. One day selling coronavirus masks
a few months ago, the girl on the streets, making the
with rosy cheeks and an Associated Press equivalent of $1-$2 per
impish smile had her dark limit: Once a bacha posh some families. And as the herit property, work and sit day. But he needed a help-
hair cut short, donned boys' reaches puberty, she is practice is temporary, with on a village council — all er.
clothes and took on a boy's expected to revert to tra- the children eventually re- of which would have been The family has four daugh-
name, Omid. The move ditional girls' gender roles. verting to female roles, the out of bounds for a woman. ters and one son, but their
opened up a boy's world: The transition is not always Taliban might not deal with In Afghanistan, the bacha 11-year-old boy doesn't
playing soccer and cricket easy. the issue at all, said Thomas posh tradition is "one of the have full use of his hands
with boys, wrestling with the It is unclear how the prac- Barfield, a professor of an- most under-investigated" following an injury. So the
neighborhood butcher's tice is viewed by Afghani- thropology at Boston Uni- topics in terms of gender parents said they decided
son, working to help the stan's new rulers, the Tal- versity who has written sev- issues, said Barfield, who to make Sanam a bacha
family make ends meet. iban, who seized power eral books on Afghanistan. spent about two years in posh.
In Afghanistan's heavily pa- in mid-August and have "Because it's inside the fam- the 1970s living with an Af- "We had to do this because
triarchal, male-dominated made no public statements ily and because it's not a ghan nomad family that of poverty," said Sanam's
society, where women and on the issue. permanent status, the Tal- included a bacha posh. mother, Fahima. "We don't
girls are usually relegated Their rule so far has been iban may stay out (of it)," "Precisely because the girls have a son to work for us,
to the home, bacha posh, less draconian than the last Barfield said. revert back to the female and her father doesn't
Dari for "dressed as a boy," time they were in power It is unclear where the role, they marry, it kind of have anyone to help him.
is the one tradition allow- in the 1990s, but women's practice originated or how disappears." So I will consider her my son
ing girls access to the freer freedoms have still been se- old it is, and it is impossible Girls chosen as bacha posh until she becomes a teen-
male world. verely curtailed. Thousands to know how widespread usually are the more bois- ager."
Under the practice, a girl of women have been it might be. A somewhat terous, self-assured daugh- Sanam says she prefers liv-
dresses, behaves and is barred from working, and similar tradition exists in Al- ters. "The role fits so well ing as a boy.
treated as a boy, with all girls beyond primary school bania, another deeply pa- that sometimes even out- "It's better to be a boy
the freedoms and obliga- age have not been able to triarchal society, although side the family, people are ... I wear (Afghan male
tions that entails. The child return to public schools in it is limited to adults. Un- not aware that it exists," he clothes), jeans and jackets,
can play sports, attend most places. der Albania's "sworn virgin" said. and go with my father and
a madrassa, or religious With a crackdown on wom- tradition, a woman would "It's almost so invisible that work," she said. She likes
school, and, sometimes en's rights, the bacha posh take an oath of celibacy it's one of the few gender playing in the park with her
crucially for the family, tradition could become and declare herself a man, issues that doesn't show up brother's friends and play-
work. But there is a time even more attractive for after which she could in- as a political or social ques- ing cricket and soccer. q

Romania to launch COVID-19 jabs for children aged 5 to 11

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) be available from Jan. 26, ropean Union country of launch a media campaign derfunded health care sys-
— Children in Romania the national vaccination around 19.5 million, has the to stimulate its vaccina- tem. Since the pandemic
aged between 5-11 will committee said Thursday. second-lowest vaccination tion rate, the daily jab up- began, Romania has con-
be able to get vaccinated Health authorities said rate against COVID-19 in take has remained low at firmed nearly 1.9 million
against COVID-19 start- 219 pediatric vaccination the 27-nation bloc, with just around 25,000 over the last COVID-19 infections, and
ing late January, authori- centers are configured 48% of adults fully inocu- week. The country is cur- 59,180 people have died.
ties said, as the country in the national program- lated, compared to the rently facing a rapid surge Several hundred cases of
grappled Friday with a virus ming platform and shots EU average of 80%. Many in infections, on Friday reg- the fast-spreading omicron
surge and low adult vacci- can also be administered other EU countries have al- istering 9,884 new infec- variant have already been
nation rates. without appointments at ready launched vaccina- tions — the highest number confirmed and health of-
Parents or legal guardians dedicated centers, and tion programs for children of daily cases since early ficials have warned that
can schedule appoint- in some general practitio- under 12. November when infections new pandemic highs of
ments starting this week to ners' surgeries. The jabs will Despite assistance from the were dropping following 25,000 daily infections
get their children inoculat- be administered in 21-day bloc's Commission in De- a deadly wave that over- could be registered in the
ed with Pfizer jabs that will intervals. Romania, a Eu- cember to help Romania whelmed the country's un- coming weeks.q