Background of The Study

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. Background of The Study

Probably until today in some parts of the world, women are still considered inferior, emotional, weak creature. Never, can they position the responsibilities what men have been in charge so far. Biological significant difference between women and men is usually the main factor that triggers gender discrimination. The society often refers to women’s biological condition as the reason for the lack or weakness of women’s intellectual and physical ability compared to men. Therefore, women are considered incapable of carrying public roles. 1 The problems occur about women in a certain society mostly connect to feminism issues; one of which is gender discrimination. Gender matters have been a very long issue almost in all countries in the world and this gender matters can lead into many other systemic problems. Patriarchy is almost known as a prior reason that emerged gender discrimination so that gender discrimination is called as a patriarchal “product”. Patriarchy is a 1 Sunarto, Analisis Wacana Ideology Gender Media Anak-Anak Semarang: Penerbit Mimbar, P. political system ruled by men in which women have inferior social and political status. 2 This ironic situation occurs in many countries mostly in Middle East including Afghanistan where the gender discrimination in Osama happened. That poor condition stimulates the movement from women themselves. They called as women’s emancipation movement or women’s liberation, they are not against men as individual but they are against the oppressive and outdated social structure that forces both men and women into false and antagonistic positions. They have campaigned for womens legal rights rights of contract, property rights, voting rights; for womens right to bodily integrity and autonomy; for abortion rights, and for reproductive rights including access to contraception and quality prenatal care; for protection from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay, and against other forms of discrimination. 3 In Osama, there are several forms of gender discrimination which is totally inspired by a true story. This critically acclaimed and award winning drama was the first entirely Afghani film made after the rise and fall of the Taliban. 2 Ibid. P. . 3 http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiFeminist_movement Osama is what the -year-old played with pained clarity by Marina Golbahari calls herself when she disguises herself as a boy, and the name references Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden only inasmuch as it stands to raise fewer suspicions. In any event, the girl doesnt have other options. Under Taliban rule, women are not allowed outside their houses without a male escort from their family -- the punishment is death by stoning -- but the girls father and uncle have both been killed in the wars, and the hospital where her mother Zubaida Sahar worked has been closed. Cross-dressing is the only way Osama can feed her family. As directed with poetic bluntness by Siddiq Barmak who ran the Afghan Film Organization before , when the Taliban sent him fleeing to Pakistan; he returned to his homeland after the regime fell in early , the film is anything but a profile in courage. The girl is at all times terrified of discovery, and even with her hair cropped short and her face hardened into an unconvincing glare the audience stays on edge, too. Taliban foot soldiers loom around every corner, their eyes aflame with zeal, their mouths dispensing obscenity-laden warnings to anyone not in lockstep with Allah. Because they see only what they want to see, they never quite see her. Its a different matter with kids her own age. A wily street urchin named Espandi Arif Herati tries to extort a few pennies from Osama, but then becomes her protector when the Taliban start rounding up Afghani youth to provide Al Qaeda with fresh recruits. The girl is sent to a training camp in the mountains, where she has to get through a communal bathing ritual with an old goat of a mullah -- a scene that would be played for ribald comedy in a Hollywood film, it carries a helpless, free-falling danger here. The movie regularly pulls back to give a wider view of a country prostrated by fanaticism. The opening sequence, in which a protest march led by women in blue burqas is dispersed by soldiers wielding rifles and firehoses, has a you-are-there immediacy, and you sense throughout that Barmak is committing his story to celluloid as quickly as possible, before memories fade. The fear that wracks the features of the young lead actress seems on loan from very recent events, while Ebrahim Gharfuis cinematography locates the threat in every smoky wasteland and quiet alleyway. The only thing he cant find is a place where a child can hide. In this movie, people can find various sorts of gender discrimination and how the Afghani women fight against it so that in this paper, the writer is interested in performing feminism analysis on gender discrimination against Afghani women in Osama.

B. Focus of the Study