Laleh Osmany ( ps, لیلے عثمانی; born 1992) is a women's rights activist from

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, who founded the social media #WhereIsMyName campaign which opposes the tradition that women's names were not used publicly in Afghanistan. For her work she was recognised on the BBC's 100 Women Awards in 2020.

Biography

Osmany was born in 1992 in

; she later studied Islamic Law at Herat University. In 2017 she co-founded the #WhereIsMyName social media campaign with

Tahmineh Rashiq use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Kingdom of Samangan , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , ...

. The campaign was set up in protest about the fact in Afghanistan, women traditionally had no right for their names be used in public. This custom meant that women's names did not appear on official documents such as birth or death certificates, and not even on her tombstone. Mary Akrami, the chair of the Afghanistan's Women Network, described the news of the change in the law as a “positive step toward establishing women’s identity".

Fawzia Koofi Fawzia Koofi ( fa, فوزیه کوفی, ; born in 1975) is an Afghan politician, writer, and women's rights activist. Originally from Badakhshan province, Koofi was recently a member of the Afghan delegation negotiating peace with the Taliban i ...

, an Afghan former MP and women's rights activist, said that the change was "not a matter of women's rights – it's a legal right, a human right". Other supporters of Osmany's work include

Farhad Darya Farhad Darya (Pashto/Dari: ; born 22 September 1962) is an Afghan singer, composer and music producer who has written and composed songs in various languages. Darya sings in various languages including mostly his native language of Persian/D ...

, the singer-songwriter Aryana Sayeed, and the MP

Maryam Sama Maryam may refer to: * Maryam Castle, a castle in Kermanshah Province, Iran * Maryam (name), a feminine given name (the Aramaic and Arabic form of Miriam, Mary) * Mary in Islam * Maryam (surah), 19th sura of the Qur'an * Maryam, Iran, a village in ...

. However the change in law was not welcomed by some, who see it as disrespectful to Afghan values or an action taken to appease the USA. The

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

, who is 2020 were in talks with the Afghan government about power-sharing, oppose the inclusion of women's names on identity cards. In addition, Osmany has received threats of violence because of her role in the campaign. Osmany's contributions to

women's rights in Afghanistan Women's rights in Afghanistan have oscillated back and forth depending on the time period. After King Amanullah Khan's attempts to modernize the country in the 1920s, women officially gained equality under the 1964 Constitution. However, t ...

were acknowledged when she featured on the BBC's 100 Women list published in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osmany, Laleh 1992 births Afghan women's rights activists Herat University alumni Living people BBC 100 Women