An 18-year-old Afghan girl has been dressing as a boy for ten years to be able to earn money. This is how she provides for her five younger sisters.
Sitara Afadar, 18, has worn men's clothes every morning for ten years, six days a week. She currently works at a brick factory to feed her family.
In conservative Afghan society, women have few civil rights. Women are forbidden to work that's why they can't support themselves. This leads to their absolute dependence on men.
Sitara has five younger sisters and no brothers. As the large family became desperately in need of money, Sitara's parents forced their eldest daughter to get a job. But since women have no right to work in Afghanistan, Sitara has to dress as a young man.
Sitara makes 500 bricks a day in return for 160 Afghanis (about $2).
"My father always says 'Sitara is like my eldest son.' Sometimes… I attend funerals as his eldest son," something Sitara would never be allowed to do as a girl.
Although it might seem rather strange, this phenomenon is quite common in Afghanistan. It is called "bacha poshi" ("dressed as a boy"). According to tradition, a girl who has reached puberty can stop dressing as a boy and doing men's work if she wants to get married.
However, Sitara is not going to do that. She wants to continue working so that her younger sister does not have the same fate.
Source: woman
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