Wazhma Frogh

Wazhma Frogh with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (left) and First Lady Michelle Obama (right) in 2009

Wazhma Frogh is a women's rights activist from Afghanistan. In 2009, she received the International Women of Courage Award.^[1]

Life

In the eighth grade, Frogh taught her landlord's children, so that the landlord would reduce her rent. She wanted money so she and her sisters could go to school.^[2] At age 17, she worked as an intern at a newspaper in Pakistan. Because of her job, she saw the difficult lives of the women in Afghan refugee camps.^[2]

Work

From 1992 to 2001, Frogh lived in Peshawar, Pakistan, while she started programs for women in Aghanistian. In 2002 Frogh finished the first study of women’s conditions in Nuristan, Afghanistan. Frogh also helped start women's centers in the Kandahar, Ghazni, Herat, and Parwan provinces of Afghanistan.^[2]

Frogh helped start the Afghan organization "Research Institute for Women". She became the director.^[3] In 2013, she wanted to visit the United States after she wrote about a militia commander in a report to NATO. The militia commander was a repeat abuser of rights.^[3] The militia commander threaten Frogh and her sisters. The Institute of Inclusive Security invited Frogh to come to the U.S. as a visiting fellow, but her visa was refused.^[3] Frogh also wrote for The Guardian on the subject of Afghanistan.^[4]

Other websites

Wazhma Frogh's blog Archived 2016-08-13 at the Wayback Machine

References

1. "2009 International Women of Courage Award Winner Biographies".
2. "Wazhma Frogh: Opening the Doors for Women in Afghanistan - DipNote". 5 October 2016. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
3. Kathy Gannon (8 March 2014). "Frustration in Afghan women's rights struggle". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
4. "Wazhma Frogh". Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved 20 December 2015.