Second Class Citizens?

Following along with my theme of women's rights, I searched all week for an article that pertained to my topic, interested me, and would interest others as well. I found an article titled Afghanistan: Law Curbing Women's Rights Takes Effect. When I read the title, I was immediately interested. I knew before I began to read this article, that women in Afghanistan have little, to no rights at all. What I realized after I read the article, was to what extent there rights are being taken from them.
President Karzai has made a horrible decision to sell Shia women out to voters in return for the support of the fundamentalists in the August election. The Human Rights Watch found out this information when the bill was published in the official Gazette on July 27, 2009. This brought the law into complete effect. This was the same man that told many that he was in favor of women gaining rights.
Some of the laws that included giving a woman's husband the right to take away basic maintenance from his wife if she simply refuses to obey his sexual demands. This includes food. The law also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and their grandfathers. It requires women to get permission from their husbands to work and leave the house. It also effectively allows a rapist to avoid being prosecuted by paying what they call "blood money" to a girl or woman who was injured when he raped her. The powerful men who are using and controlling these women are taking over their lives. They are using the women of their culture and country to gain power in elections.
In 2001 when the Taliban was overthrown, these laws and rules were supposed to be taken out of effect. When the president of Afghanistan received them, he immediately passed them. After this, many brave and hopeful women protesters began to walk the streets telling anyone who would listen what is happening and what they can do to prevent and fix it. Several world leaders including President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer have spoken out to help these women. From the pressure of these world leaders, President Karzai has passed a simple law in favor of the women's rights. This has helped a great deal, but not enough. I believe that if more people knew about what was really going on, more could be done to help these women who need us.