The Favored Daughter One Woman's Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future

by Koofi, Fawzia; Ghouri, Nadene

• ISBN13: 9780230120679
• ISBN10: 0230120679
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-01-03
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Summary

The nineteenth daughter of a local village leader in rural Afghanistan, Fawzia Koofi was left to die in the sun after birth by her mother. But she survived, and perseverance in the face of extreme hardship has defined her life ever since. Despite the abuse of her family, the exploitative Russian and Taliban regimes, the murders of her father, brother, and husband, and numerous attempts on her life, she rose above her fate to becoming the first Afghani woman Parliament speaker. Here, she shares her amazing story, punctuated by a series of poignant letters she wrote to her two daughters before each political trip--letters describing the future and freedoms she dreamed of for them and for all the women of Afghanistan. Today, Koofi is one of the most outspoken critics of human rights violations against Afghani women and children and uses her influence to bring global attention to the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, even as a frustrated American military considers relinquishing it to the Taliban. Her story movingly captures the political and cultural moment in Afghanistan, a country caught between the hope of progress and the bitterness of history.

Author Biography

Fawzia Koofi is Afghanistan's first female Parliament speaker and a noted activist for women and children’s rights. She is currently a leading candidate for the presidential elections in 2014 and has been quoted by the BBC, Time, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, The Globe and Mail, and many others. Koofi was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009. Before getting elected to Parliament, Koofi was employed by UNICEF as a child protection officer from 2002 through 2004. The mother of two girls, she lives in Kabul.Nadene Ghouriis an award-winning journalist and broadcaster. She is a former correspondent of both the BBC and Al Jazeera English

Table of Contents

Praise for Fawzia Koofi"One of the country’s most outspoken democracy activists . . .Koofi describes unflinchingly the wreckage she witnessed at the hands of Afghans of all ideologies and clans." - The Globe and Mail