"I Want a Son"

 Written by: Waheeda Sabir

Pregnant women in Afghanistan suffer from different problems. One of these problems origins from delivering more daughters. This issue causes the mother to be blamed and threatened by her husband or her husband’s family that why she does not bear sons. In the result, this pressure might cause the mother/mothers to face some psychological illnesses.

Regarding this issue, the writer/producer AEPO has talked to some women and a doctor.

Lailuma, a resident of Kunar province says:

I have born 7 daughters one after another. When I delivered my last daughter, my husband had fast, and when he heard about the born of my seventh daughter, he became very sad and did not eat anything on that night. My blood pressure went high and I faced bleeding and they carried me to the hospital.

Shahjahan, a resident of Surkhrood district of Nangarhar province says: I have 5 daughters and 2 sons. When I delivered my last daughter, my husband told to my sons to hit me with stones because I have delivered a girl.

Mahnaz, a resident of Kabul city says: I delivered 5 daughters one after another. My husband stopped bringing foods home. It affected my mind and one day I tried to kill one of my daughters.

Doctor Aziza, a gynecologist in Malalai hospital says:

When a mother delivers baby girl one after another and her husband or someone else threatens her, she might face psychological illness; her blood pressure might become abnormal; she might face bleeding and this bleeding might lead her to death.

Khadija, a resident of Laghman province says that men would never accept his fault and they would blame women for delivering a baby girl. She adds that one of her relatives did not have a son and he married a second wife and she also delivered a baby girl.

Doctor Khadija says that the gender(male/female) belongs to the man, not to the woman but most husbands blame their wives for delivering a baby girl.

When the level of people’s awareness goes up and men know that delivering a child(male/female) belongs to the men, the level of violence against women would also come down and the children would grow up in a peaceful environment.