Proving The Value Of Women In Rural Afghanistan

This post is part of our month-long series featuring Greatest Women of the Day, in recognition of Women's History Month.

To nominate a Greatest Woman of the Day, e-mail [e-mail].

An unlikely combination of events first propelled Shannon Galpin to a life dedicated to women's issues: one year after she became a first-time mom, Shannon's sister was raped at college. Confounded by the frequency of rape -- Shannon was raped at 17 years old -- and protective as the mother of a daughter, Shannon had to act.

"When I became a mother, all those instincts pushed be forward from talking about the issues to really feeling like I'd had enough. I just leapt."

In 2006, Shannon left her career as an athletic trainer to take her vision for gender equity global. She founded Mountain2Mountain, an organization that works in conflict regions to create opportunities for women and girls, from her Colorado home.

"I leveraged everything, my home, my car, to start Mountain2Mountain," she said. "I knew that was the only way to get it started. And if we didn't start going to Afghanistan with smaller projects, and building trust with locals, we wouldn't make real change."

Despite her own experience of violence against women domestically, for Shannon, the plight of women in Afghanistan and in war zones around the world still resonates deeply.

"At the end of the day, I feel lucky to be living in the Western world with an assumed equality and I really felt the pull to focus on these women around the world," Shannon said. "They don't have the justice, they don't have the public perception backing them as equals."

Her first projects were collaborations in mountain communities in Pakistan and shortly after, Shannon began traveling and working in Afghanistan.

Today, she is driven by the fierce hunger for change she witnesses in her work with Afghan women and girls.

"If our girls were risking having acid thrown in their faces walking to school we wouldn't let them go. They're willing to take these huge risks because they're so desperate for an education. They understand the importance of an education to such an extent that it is truly moving."

Working on the premise that education is the key component for community growth and change, Mountain2Mountain establishes programs that include training, job creation and microfinance. One of their most successful ventures has been a rural midwifery training program.

"You change the value of a woman by proving their worth in these rural villages. We can work within the restraints of their culture but still create a ripple of change that cuts across to the next generation."

Working in small and remote pockets of Afghanistan will continue to be the focus of Shannon and her organization, but on a larger scale, she believes the fight for gender equality needs to move forward with the help of both female and male advocates.

"Women's rights are always going to remain just a women's issue if it's only women who care. They need to become human right, with men and women fighting for women's rights. That will be powerful."

Comments

[Rene Borbon]

02:57 PM on 03/27/2011

This is a greta story. Having just recently returned from Afghanistan - I saw firsthand the primitive way women are treated there. Women's rights are the key to a modern republic -- however it remains to be seen if Afghanistan can truly change and become more equal.

[Christiane Leitinger]

08:58 AM on 03/17/2011

Thanks for being the change! Those who are hopeless need an example of hope to find their own voice and their own path. You are the example of hope for so many of us - In Afghanistan and beyond!

[levresamant]

08:10 AM on 03/15/2011

Why does the Muslim man assault their greatest treasure and hope for a future, WOMAN?

[Mehmaani]

01:08 AM on 03/15/2011

Much of you probably don't know this, but pre-war Afghanistan was very modern, and women were a very big part of everyday life.

Here are some videos from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=afghanistan+in+the+60s&aq=f

If that was possible back in the 60s, then we have hope for the future.

Peace to Afghanistan.

[wesley kimler]

03:58 AM on 03/15/2011

I know this as I lived and worked in beautiful, marvelous Afghanistan during this time.....when there was fabulous, dissonant -wild! music blaring from loudspeakers on many corners, and a bustling, thriving community of different peoples living together in an exotic community built up over millenniums - which we and the Russians in our late cold war tussle, destroyed, shredding a fragile , gossamer like web of a human ecology that had grown organically over time.. Our being their is the best thing we have done with our fighting forces since WW2. But this is a different mission: how to restore some semblance of balance and peace while, CLEANING UP THE MESS WE MADE! -OUR MESS, OUR RESPONSIBILITY!- of this amazing land, filled with amazing, wonderful, fierce people -people that we should admire and learn from and want to call our friends.

[MikeyJaii]

06:14 PM on 03/14/2011

Middle East has the worse women treatment.

[ShadowLurker]

03:04 AM on 03/15/2011

It's true... but pointing it out here just invites reactionaries who will go on and on about how the US is somehow just as dangerous for women. It's a dangerous lie.

[Charts Charts]

05:03 PM on 03/14/2011

Outstanding work! A return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan would be huge setback to women there. I disagree with ewldest's assertion that the best we can do is to abandon Afghanistan. Afghan women have their work cut out for them in any case, but it's hard to imagine a WORSE scenario for them than a Taliban victory.

[peowlemeow]

03:13 PM on 03/14/2011

I can barely watch movies that feature muslim women.my favorites that I know of are When Turtles Fly,Osama,Iranian Divorce and Kandahar.

[Boubah]

03:03 PM on 03/14/2011

Women are and will always be valuable in every field you put them.

[Vantunow]

02:44 PM on 03/14/2011

Be careful Miss. Galpin. We don't want to happen to you what hapenned to Lora Logan.

[halleck]

06:28 PM on 03/16/2011

I agree. However, if you read the article it says that Ms Galpin was raped at the age of 17 as was her sister in America so sexual assault can happen anywhere and we shouldn't assume we are that superior especially when there was a case last week reported on HuffPo where 18 men allegedly raped an 11 year old in Cleveland.

Here is an article from Ms Galpin describing her experience and comparing it to that of Lara Logan
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannon-galpin/whats-blonde-got-to-do-wi_b_824319.html

[ewldest]

02:34 PM on 03/14/2011

Colonialist missionaries cannot establish enduring change of values among the native peoples, because in the long run their efforts are destabilizing to the indigenous culture.
I'm all in favor of the women of Afghanistan developing a movement to effect change in the culture of Afghanistan positive to the interests of women. But they can't do that with a government imposed upon them by a foreign power.
Social change must happen from within, it can never be imported - certainly not by force.
In the long run the best we can do for the women of Afghanistan is to leave as quickly as possible so they can get on with the business of social change independently in their own nation.

[snik2bor]

04:29 PM on 03/14/2011

She's not a missionary nor is her mission colonial in nature. As it states in the article, they "work within the restraints of their culture." In many cases this means allowing women to earn money for the family in a way that does not impact or curtail her traditional roles and responsibilities. This can make a profound difference not only economically, but in the perception of a woman and her value within the home and her community. It is important that these organizations understand the culture of the people with whom they work, because by respecting the existing indigenous culture, they are able to offer opportunities to women that do not threaten their roles, and hopefully, do not place them in danger.

[ewldest]

12:28 AM on 03/15/2011

She's not a misionary, but she's on a mission... hmmm... to 'improve' the lives of the designated others in the land of our colonial occupation, saving them from their 'primitive/barbaric/savage/heathanish' ways.... and she wouldn't be there except there's an army of 150000 US troops making sure she can work her magic and free the ignorant of their centuries old way of life....
Neoliberal imperialism is no better than neoconservative imperialism, it just sounds nicer. No sale.

[abius83]

02:19 PM on 03/14/2011

Inspiring. Please stay safe.

[AJ in ATL]

02:19 PM on 03/14/2011

It sickens me to think that in today's modern world that women are still treated as second class if not third class citizens. Shannon is an insperiation to those who can make a difference.

[Danilo-11]

02:05 PM on 03/14/2011

Why don't they do that same proving in the Midwest, they'd be surprised of what they would find.

[Chrystal Ji Davey]

02:26 PM on 03/14/2011

Midwest AND all the non-coastal Western US.

[T Coco Loren]

12:48 PM on 03/14/2011

Congratulations Shannon!! I had sent a email nominating you, as I am sure many other supporters did, and am so happy that Mountain2Mountain is featured as part of Huffington Post's Greatest Women of the Day!