Obedient and resistant: Afghanistani women in Maryam Mahboob's short stories

Afghanistani women are largely known as one of the most oppressed groups of women in the world, exacerbated by the Taliban's rigid policies towards them. But in reality, the way in which they are subordinated and oppressed, and how they see this oppression and subordination themselves, and above all how they resist and rebel against such a situation are the subject matter of a one of the most prolific Afghanistani women authors, Maryam Mahboob.This article focuses on her short stories in which the voice of Afghanistani women from different social levels, their oppression, their sufferings and their need for change, and their rebellion and empowerment have found representation. Mahboob portrays ordinary women who under severe socio/political and cultural pressures eventually rebel; some achieve freedom while others do not. What marks their lives is not their subordination or oppression, but the way they deal with these problems and their efforts to overcome them. In order to surmount issues related to their gender, Mahboob's female characters use all possible methods, from everyday bodily actions to direct confrontation. This article explores different aspects of Afghanistani women's lives, their suffering, struggle and rebellion as depicted in Mahboob's short stories by focusing in particular on issues such as women and rebellion, women, tradition and modernity, women and Islam, mother and daughter relationships, women and the home, women in diaspora, and power struggles and the female body.