Who is Meena Keshwar Kamal

Meena was born February 27, 1956 in Kabul. She left her university in order to pursue her passion for social activism. A devoted feminist, her primary interest was the equality and education of women.

In 1977, at the age of 20, she founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), an organization devoted to the promotion of women's rights and secular democracy in Afghanistan.

Her strong belief in democratic principles and opposition to fundamentalism lead her to begin a campaign against Afghaniastan's occupying Russian forces and their puppet regime in 1979.

She also founded a prominent bilingual (Pashto and Urdu) women's magazine, Payam-e-Zan, and the Watan Schools, which aid Afghan refugee women and children in Pakistan with education and health care.

She traveled internationally to promote democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan, but her activism made her an enemy both of the Russians and fundamentalist Afghan forces. In 1986, her husband, Faiz Ahmad, the leader of the Afghan Liberation Movement, was assassinated by followers of the fundamentalist Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Meena herself was kidnapped and assassinated in 1987 by unknown forces, probably Hekmatyar's followers or the Afghan Secret Police, at the age of 30.

She and Ahmad had three children, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Meena is remembered in Afghanistan and around the world for her great courage and compassion. You can read a Time Magazine tribute to Meena here.

More than 20 years after Meena's death, Afghan women still suffer from many of the same problems she fought against in her lifetime.

Under the Taliban, the education of women was forbidden. These restrictions have since been lifted, but only 13-15% of Afghan women are literate today, and only an estimated 30% of girls attend school. By secondary school, the rate drops to 10%.

More than 60% of marriages are conducted by force, 57% of brides are under the legal marriage age of 16. Brides as young as four have been reported.

More than 50% of Afghan women are the victims of domestic violence; some reports estimate the actual numbers are as high as 87%. Afghan girls and women are also frequent victims of the barbaric custom of "honor" killings.

Afghanistan has one of highest rates of maternal mortality during childbirth in the world: 1,600 per 100,000 births. An Afghan woman dies in childbirth every 30 minutes. Children have a one in five chance of dying before their fifth birthdays; girls are particularly vulnerable to this because they are not considered as important as boys.

In light of these statistics, it is hardly surprising to learn that Afghanistan has the highest rate of female suicide in the world, often committed by self-immolation.

Meena's dreams of democracy and equality for women live on, however. One of the first women in the Afghan parliament, an illiterate widow named Gulhar Jalal, credits Meena, her childhood friend, with her decision to run for election. "I ran," she said, "because this was Meena's dream."

This lens is fan-made and not affiliated in any way with Meena or the leadership of RAWA. All proceeds go to the microfinance organization Kiva.