Women's rights in Afghanistan: Are we witnessing a revolution?

By Monica Sarkar, CNN

Updated 1412 GMT (2212 HKT) April 8, 2015

Knee-length skirts, high heels and walking freely down the street: it's hard to believe that this was Kabul in June 1978. Browse through this gallery and see how dramatically women's dress in Afghanistan has changed over the years.
Photos: Unveiled: Afghan women past and present
Unveiled: Afghan women past and present – Knee-length skirts, high heels and walking freely down the street: it's hard to believe that this was Kabul in June 1978. Browse through this gallery and see how dramatically women's dress in Afghanistan has changed over the years.
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Covered from head to toe, women walk on the outskirts of Jalalabad, accompanied by a liberally-dressed boy, in October 2013. Horia Mosadiq, Amnesty International's Afghanistan Researcher, says that although there are not any legal restrictions on women's dress code in Afghanistan, considerable social and cultural pressures force them to wear a burqa or fully cover themselves. "They would simply be targeted otherwise," she says, "by the Taliban, their family members, or even passers-by on the street."
Photos: Unveiled: Afghan women past and present
Afghanistan: In the present – Covered from head to toe, women walk on the outskirts of Jalalabad, accompanied by a liberally-dressed boy, in October 2013. Horia Mosadiq, Amnesty International's Afghanistan Researcher, says that although there are not any legal restrictions on women's dress code in Afghanistan, considerable social and cultural pressures force them to wear a burqa or fully cover themselves. "They would simply be targeted otherwise," she says, "by the Taliban, their family members, or even passers-by on the street."
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