IndexWomen = ObjectsThe laws of the TalibanThe world against the TalibanMen under the TalibanFrom the Breadwinner era to todayThe Breadwinner is an animated film that reveals the harsh truth of powerless women who live under an extreme patriarchal regime, real feminist issues and the strength of family bonds. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The film, based on the adaptation of the children's novel by Deborah Ellis, was produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin and Angelina Jolie and directed by Irish director Nora Twomey. In addition to being nominated for Best Animated Film at the 90th Academy Awards, it chronicles 11-year-old Parvana's courageous attempt to support her family and save her father, who has been falsely accused and arrested by the Taliban. However, in order to go out on the street, she had to impersonate herself as a boy. This required cutting her hair and wearing men's clothing belonging to her older, but sadly deceased, brother. Women = Objects The breadwinner created a bitter but unfortunately to this day very real world in a Middle Eastern culture. Women are treated as second class citizens and depend on their husbands, fathers or brothers for everything, where men control almost all aspects of women's lives, where discrimination against women is official policy. In the film, everything takes place in Kabul, in the era of the Taliban (The Taliban is an Arabic word meaning students of Islam) a radical religious group. The people of Afghanistan now living under the rules of the Taliban had to follow the orders they set. The main rule was that women could not leave the house without a male figure by their side. This rule imposed several conditions, one of which was that no women should be seen in the market (shopkeepers were forbidden to sell to female customers, otherwise they would be punished severely). Economic activities were carried out exclusively by men, while women remained waiting at home. However, when going out, women had to wear a Burkha (a garment that covered them from head to toe). Since it consisted only of a small mesh in the eye area, the Burkha allowed limited vision of the surrounding environment. Additionally, women were not allowed to wear colored clothes or white socks as white was the color of the Taliban flag. Disobeying these rules meant that women would not go to heaven after their death. In the film, the Taliban sympathizer would occasionally check out the market; looking for anyone who dared to break the rules. If anyone disobeyed, they would be harshly punished on the streets, raped, amputated, among other forms of violence and told to go back home where they belonged. Simply because of the stereotypical role of how women were seen and portrayed (taking care of the house, cleaning and taking care of the children). Just as at a certain point it was shown in a specific scene of the animated film, where the protagonist's mother was beaten almost to death in front of her, due to trying to reach the prison, where the father of Parvana. Women also had to be ready to become wives of other families, who had some male looking for a wife. Unfortunately, in their culture, a girl is ready to be given in marriage from the age of 9, sometimes as narrated in their religious book, the Quran, (Sahih-Bukhari volume 5, book 58, number 234): to girls was allowed to get married at the tender age of 6, as a result of such immoral imposition, many girls commit suicide,to avoid rape and forced marriage. In the animated film there is a scene in which a Taliban encourages the protagonist's father, who is only 11 years old, to marry her off. And not only that, but Parvana's sister (Fig. 6) had to be ready and willing when her mother told her to marry their cousin from another town to survive. Because the film depicted the real condition of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban, as objects, women were not counted, their voices were not heard. Just like at one point, Parvana, after her father was taken, went alone to the market and while she tried to purchase some items, no one answered her questions nor sold her anything. Everyone ignored her completely, almost as if she didn't even exist; However, the situation quickly changed once he pretended to be a boy, and that day Parvana learned a valuable lesson: "When you are a boy, you can go anywhere you want." Laws of the Taliban According to the documented laws enacted by the Taliban, where they clearly showed their ruthless restrictions by writing laws that barred women from education. As a result, the Taliban used violence to prevent female students from attending school. In addition to not being able to receive an education, women were also treated unequally as in terms of job opportunities compared to men, female teachers and doctors were very rare in Afghanistan. One of the results of the ban on the employment of women was the closure of primary schools, not only for girls but also for boys because almost all teachers at that time were women. The main cause of death of Afghan women is the inability to receive adequate first aid when needed, due to the lack of female doctors in society (male medical personnel are not allowed to treat women and girls). The religious police also issued new regulations ordering people to darken their windows, so that the women were not visible from the outside. This is something that can be seen in the film where the windows of each house can be clearly seen covered from the inside. The Taliban say their goal is to "preserve women's honor" and further state that "restrictions on women are for their own protection." «The general situation of Afghan women has improved over the last ten years, particularly in the main urban areas. However, those living in rural areas of the country still face many problems. The world against the Taliban The Taliban has deprived almost all the basic rights of women and the fact that Afghanistan has been identified as the most dangerous place for women. According to the Tompson Reuters Foundation poll, this is not a surprise. Additionally, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security also ranked Afghanistan as one of the worst countries for women. Approximately 87% of Afghan women suffer abuse and violence; they face a high mortality rate also due to the limitation of the lack of economic rights. Additionally, in 2013, the United Nations released statistics showing a 20% increase in violence against women, usually due to domestic violence justified by religious and cultural conservatives. On May 27, 2007, in an interview with Edge Radio, Khaled Hosseini, an Afghan-American novelist commented: 'When the Taliban came; they imposed inhumane restrictions on women, limiting their freedom of movement and expression, excluding them from work and education, harassing, humiliating and beating them. Much, if not all, Western media coverage of the Taliban was extremely negative. However, in response to negative media coverage about the Taliban's treatment of Afghan women, the formerTaliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar expressed the following opinion on the Western world's treatment of women: "their interpretation of women's rights is only that of ugly and dirty Western cultures and customs in which women are insulted and dishonored as if they were a toy.'Men under the Taliban While men think that discriminating against women is something allowed by society, women believe that their fate is in the hands of men. Therefore, both men and women have a role in establishing this gender discriminatory system, and due to centuries-old customs and traditions influenced by patriarchal rules, when the Taliban took full control over everything, the majority of the population (mostly men) believed that those laws were necessary to maintain social order, here because most Afghans seemed to accept what the Taliban dictated. All the restrictions they imposed on women were deemed necessary by conservative men because they consider women socially immature, with less moral control and physical restraint; as a result, women, based on the illogical and twisted logic of men, were untrustworthy. Therefore they kept them within the walls of their homes so as not to upset the social order. The need for their isolation was, therefore, more important than anything else. Men were required to grow beards, and those who failed to grow beards and leave them untrimmed were fined and jailed, extremists perceived a full beard as the hallmark of a Muslim, and little mercy was shown to convicted criminals. Male authorities resided in the economic well-being of the family, in politics and in relations with outsiders; within the family, they had to be disciplinarians and provide for elderly parents and the entire family, they also had to make decisions for women. The right to make and control women's decisions for men and society was also a symbol of a man's honor and reputation. Any evidence of independent female action was seen as evidence of the loss of male control, which negatively affected the entire family's position within the community. Therefore the reputation of the males of the family and their highly prized honor depended on the good behavior of the women. While some traditional Afghan sports such as dog fighting, kite flying and buzkashi (a game played on horseback with an animal carcass) were outlawed for being "un-Islamic". Volleyball, cricket and boxing gained popularity. when the Taliban banned other activities such as music, television and cinema. However, sports were not for everyone. Women were strictly prohibited from participating and men were only allowed to compete if they were dressed accordingly , they had to wear long-sleeved shirts, long shorts and high socks that covered bare skin Another difference in gender inequality was that a man could divorce easily without needing his wife's consent her husband's approval is needed, and she also requires witnesses who can testify in court that the divorce was well justified. Furthermore, while it is legal for male citizens to marry non-Muslim foreigners, it was and still is illegal for female citizens to do so. The dominance of the patriarchal system was evident from the beginning of history. When a Taliban member aggressively asked the protagonist's father what his daughter was doing outside and why she wasn't where she belonged and that she had to cover herself properly and not raise her voice because she wasn't allowed to attract.