Background of the Study

2. Taliban’s Ideal Muslim Women

According to Zoya as cited by Juan R. I. Cole in The Taliban, Women, and the Hegelian Private Sphere, ideal Muslim women based on Taliban ’s interpretation are women are banned from appearing in a public. They are permitted to go outside only if they are accompanied by a mahram. They are banned from working. They should not go to school. Women are not allowed to laugh or even speak loudly because it risks sexually exciting males Cole, 2003: 797. Not to mention, women should wear burqa Cole, 2003: 799. 6

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE

A. Review of Related Studies

Power sometimes used to oppress others. Therefore, a resistance is done in order to opt out from the oppression by questioning, challenging even undermining the power. A research on resistance against Taliban had been conducted by Sudip Bhandari, Emma Keiski, Siri Ericson, Grace Freeman and Katie Studer in 2004. Their research is entitled ―Malala Youzafzai: One Girl‘s Fight for Women‘s Education in Pakistan‖. The research is about Malala‘s resistance against Taliban to voice out the right of girls‘ education in Pakistan. This research aims to explore the context and network that motivate Malala to be a courageous resistor when most people prefer to keep silent. ...Malala is an active proponent of education as a fundamental social and economic right. The world needs more individuals like Malala with the audacity to confront institutionalized system of oppression Bhandari, Keiski, Ericson, Freeman and Studer 2014: 2. However, Malala‘s action in voicing women‘s education causes Taliban‘s anger. Taliban think that Malala is spreading secularism through education, so Taliban shoot her. Eventough she is shot by Taliban, she does not give up. On the contrary, she resists it and breaks the cycle of silence in society, like she says, ―I want to speak up for my rights and also I didn‘t want my future to be sitting in a room and be imprisoned in my fou r walls‖ Youzafzai, 2013: 10. Her actions show that individual is capable of giving pressure to authorities to start respecting human rights. The researchers prove that Malala‘s resistance is motivated by two things, context and network. First, in the context of Pakistani education, Pakistan has despairingly fewer educational opportunities for women. The female literacy rate is low at 35 while male literacy rate is around 62. This dismal education status for women is because the social and economic condition, namely poverty, religious fundamentalism, gender discrimination, and governmental mismanagement Bhandari, Keiski, Ericson, Freeman and Studer 2014: 9. Second, Malala has an access to a network of political role model, Benazir Bhutto, as the first female Prime Minister in the Islamic world, which has inspired her to become a courageous resistor. Furthermore, she is always supported by her family that values education more, especially education for women. Their research is helpful to this study because this study also analyzes Malala‘s resistance. Some data, especially on women‘s education is useful to support the writer‘s argument in this study. However, the different between this research and the writer‘s study are first, their research only focuses on women‘s education and their idea stops on how contexts and networks can motivate Malala to be a courageous resistor. Therefore, the writer wants to analyze more. The writer focuses on not only Tali ban‘s rule on women‘s education but also Taliban‘s rules on ideal Muslim women. Second, the writer analyzes not only her reasons but also her actions to resist against Taliban‘s rules on ideal Muslim women. In 2014 Agustina Kresia Agasi conducted a study on rebellion against Taliban oppression. Her study is entitled ―The Rebellion of an Afghan Woman against Taliban Oppression Revealed through Kamila‘s Struggles in Gayle Temach Lemmon‘s The Dressmaker of Khair Khana‖. Agasi observes the characteristics of Kamila. She argues that Kamila‘s characteristics are educated, open minded, determined Agasi, 2014: 34. Actually, these characteristics contribute to her struggle to rebel against Taliban oppression. For example, Kamila is suffering when living under Taliban‘s regime. She is not allowed to contact with outside world, work, and should wear burqa, but she has to struggle to get a financial support from her family. Therefore, with the characteristics that she has, she chooses to rebel against Taliban oppression. Agasi argues that Kamila rebels against Taliban by becoming androgynous and empowering woman Agasi, 2014: 61. In this case, she becomes a tailor and opens tailoring business though in Taliban regime, a tailor should be for men, not women. Agasi‘s study which is about how a woman wants to rebel against Taliban oppression is useful for this study as a guideline to prove the oppression under Taliban regime. The difference lies on the analysis of the intrinsic element. Rather than analyzing the characteristics of the main character, this study focuses on the setting. The writer believes that analyzing setting is more paramount than characteristics of character. It is because setting can be a basic reason on why the main character in this study does the resi stance against Taliban‘s rules on ideal Muslim women.