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A Hamilton woman has helped set up the first ever gender studies program in Afghanistan, at a university she was once banned from teaching at, simply because she’s female.

Born in Afghanistan, Marufa Shinwari used to teach law at Kabul University. But in 1992 things changed overnight. Fundamentalists came to power implementing sharia law. “I went to the university the next day with a hijab and I was excused because they told me a woman cannot be a lawyer by sharia law.”

Shinwari fled to Uzbekistan with her 3 children, the youngest only 6 months old. They were refugees for 6 years before being accepted as landed immigrants in Hamilton.

Shinwari became involved with helping other refugees resettle and 2 years ago enrolled in McMaster’s gender studies feminist research program. Upon recently returning to Afghanistan she was horrified by the brutal lynch mob beating of a woman falsely accused of burning a Quran.

Reacting to the shocking murder, Shinwari had several meetings with the Dean of social sciences at her old university and is now helping them develop a masters program. She says it will have a significant impact in academically documenting gender issues from within Afghanistan for the first time.