Queen Soraya

Posted by Barbara on September 30, 2024 in Blog, Dame designate, feminism, History, Human rights, Women's equality issues | 2 comments

A chance spotting of a Twitter post grabbed my attention the other day.  I saw a photo of a beautiful woman with a crown on her head in an elaborate,  sleeveless decorative dress and jewellery. A royal, but of which country?  Reader, it was Afghanistan.

Soraya Tarzi was born in Damascus, Syria, on November 24, 1899. Her father Mahmud Tarzi was a renowned Afghan politician and intellectual, known for being the father of Afghan journalism. Tarzi, who served as Afghanistan’s foreign affairs minister and as Afghan ambassador to France, was influenced by the ideas of Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Her mother Asma Rasmya was an editor and feminist.

Soraya studied in Syria, learning Western and modern values there, which would influence her future actions and beliefs. She married Prince Amanullah of Afghanistan, son of the Amir Habibullah Khan, in 1913. Soraya Tarzi became the future king’s only wife, which broke centuries of tradition.  At that time the country was part of the British Empire.

Amanullah was aligned with Mahmud Tarzi’s secular ideas; he became emir in February 1919 and in August he proclaimed Afghanistan’s independence from Great Britain. In 1926, Amanullah assumed the title of king; he dissolved the royal harem and freed the enslaved women of the harem.

He appointed Soraya Minister of Education; she is quoted as saying: ‘Independence belongs to all of us and that is why we celebrate it. Do you believe, however, that our nation from the beginning only needs men to serve it? Women must also participate as women did in the early years of our nation and Islam. From their examples we have to learn that we must all contribute to the development of our nation and that this cannot be done without being equipped with knowledge. Therefore, we should all try to acquire as much knowledge as possible so that we can serve society in the same way that women did in the early days of Islam’.

During Amanullah’s 10 year reign the country saw major reforms in terms of women’s rights and civil liberties. Women’s emancipation was promoted and primary schools for girls were opened. Women got the right to vote in 1919 and the country’s 1923 Constitution stressed that women had equal rights with men. Furthermore, slavery and child marriage were abolished. Polygamy needed judicial permission and the wearing of the veil was discouraged. Soraya is acknowledged as the driving force behind these changes.

In 1927 and 1928 Soraya and Amanullah visited Europe; they received honorary degrees from Oxford University; they were seen as promoters of enlightened Western values, and ruling an important buffer state between the British Indian empire and Soviet ambitions.

Sadly, and perhaps inevitably, the reforms provoked a backlash in Afghanistan. In 1929, an uprising of Shinwari tribesmen (ethnic Pashtuns) was followed by attacks by the warlord Habibullah Kalakani’s forces. King Amanullah and Queen Soraya were forced to flee Afghanistan. In 1929, Habibullah Kalakani established himself as ruler, and abolished all the reforms established by Amanullah.  Queen Soraya lived in exile in Rome with her family, dying in 1968.

I cannot imagine what her thoughts would be about the Afghanistan of today in comparison with 100 years ago, ruled by a patriarchy that is systematically stripping away women’s rights to the point that in effect they have none.  I can only hope that it takes less than 100 years for all those rights to be reinstated.