Afghan Masculine Ghairat: A Qualitative Study In Kabul

Abstract

This study reconstructs the meanings and contributions of Ghairat phenomenon in gender inequality and gender-based violence in an everyday setting in Kabul city, Afghanistan. The research utilized the constructivism-interpretivism paradigm as well as the qualitative method. In particular, it applied the empirical-phenomenological approach to understand the lived-experiences of the participants about the Ghairat. Thirty-Seven individuals including Sixteen men and Twenty-one women from three ethnic groups of Pashtun, Tajik, and Hazara and five key informants voluntarily attended the study. The data were analyzed following the Moustakas’ Steick-Colaizzi-Keen modification. They were coded and thematized using the MAXQDA program. The findings of the study have revealed the complexity and significance of Ghairat. As a social phenomenon, it has several facets and meanings. It is internal, external, precarious and gendered. The meaning of Ghairat categorized into manly and womanly. The study identified manly Ghairat as a cultural mechanism through which classic patriarchy and masculine domination operate. It also acts as a means of violence. In the process of facilitating gender-based violence, manly Ghairat appears in different forms of physical, psychological, and symbolic violence. Furthermore, a new meaning ascribed to womanly Ghairat as the capability and power to break the social constraints and attend women’s human rights. Unlike the previous literature that equalized Ghairat with honor, the research concluded that the two phenomena are different. While honor essentially deals with the social status and reputation, Ghairat concerns the capability and power of a man to preserve assumed belongings.