Quest-The Journal of UGC-HRDC Nainital

In this paper, we examine how women utilised the space of the Internet to deal with the restrictions placed on them by the Taliban regime. Women in Afghanistan had started using the Internet and writing on it in preparation and internal communication for the past couple of years and managed to shape this activity into a movement. A large number of women connected their lives to women in different countries via the Internet. This created a possibility for exchanging ideas from far distance; and brought in cooperation, gathering information related to the event or issue and broadcasting that news and creating theoretical debates over it. This atmosphere demonstrates the intellectual, geographic and scope of its users and provides a possibility for them to participate and cooperate. Constant writing and receiving continuous feedback, removed the shyness of expressing one due to age and experience differences. Also this interactive space in comparison with tangible space reduces the social complexities that exist in Afghanistan in expressing and listening to various thoughts. This space has played a vital and affirmative role in organizing and planning for women in Afghanistan. In fact, the Internet has turned out to be the first place for the women of Afghanistan to share their personal experiences and concerns away from all judgments, should and shouldn’t dictated to them from the society, prejudices and all the other discriminations towards them without revealing their real name. This was the time in which women initiated to write about their daily struggles and entered into Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blogs alongside the other cultural contributions in the form of short stories and poems, articles related to expert knowledge, evaluative and comment on different aspects of the society from political, cultural, and economic perspectives.