NEWSLETTER

Shogofa Ali was 18 when she set herself on fire.
She didn’t do it to protest against her arranged marriage; she just didn’t want to live through the
pain any longer.
Shogofa, from Afghanistan, had been just 11 when she was part of a bride exchange agreement
arranged by her father.
Shogofa hadn’t wanted to marry so young. She wasn’t ready. Although she knew her father
wouldn’t change his mind, she still begged him not to make this atrocious decision. Shogofa had to
marry a man she had never seen before in her entire life, but there was nothing she could have
done. From that moment, she knew that the life she had dreamed of was over.
Everything changed the second Shogofa got married; her husband was interfering in every part of
her life. Bad changes entered Shogofa’s life, including the fact that she wasn’t allowed to go to
school.
‘My husband’s family would beat me up every time I mentioned about school. It was like I was only
half alive. A razor blade was hanging over my life,’ Shogofa said as tears fell from her eyes as she
remembered the awful past.
Shogofa told us why she eventually set herself on fire.
‘I had suffered so much abuse from my husband and his family that I couldn’t take all the agony
anymore. I thought it would be better off if I died rather than living in anguish but I wouldn’t have
done this if I knew I would still be alive. I wanted to escape this misery.’
It has now been almost a year since Shogofa left hospital. Her husband and his family never
visited. She couldn’t be more delighted. Her life has now improved. However, every now and then,
her appalling past appears in her head, a dark reminder of what happened.
Considering that many other Afghanistan women have experienced a situation like this, Shogofa
was fortunate to finally escape.
A large number of women and girls around the world are still forced to marry as children or are
trafficked into forced labor and sex slavery. They are often prevented from making personal
choices in their private lives.
Also, women and girls are often denied an education and political participation. Many are facing
huge challenges and different kinds of violence, such as sexual violence, self abuse and domestic
violence.
Nobody should have to go through this.
Life is iniquitous, but it is even more harrowing for women. All women deserve equality, dignity,
freed from violence and discrimination. This is a right, not a reward.