Roya Mahboob, a refugee in Iran until 2003, put herself though university getting a degree in computer science and then founded the Afghan Citadel Software Company, one of the most successful software development companies in the country.
A woman in business was not a novel concept in pre-Taliban Afghanistan. Before the Taliban’s totalitarian rule began in 1994 stripping women of their basic human rights and forbidding work, travel and education, Afghan women were among some of the most highly educated and employed in the Muslim world. Women worked as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers and journalists. But in 1994 the Taliban seized control of Herat and then Kabul and in 1996 they officially plunged the country into a state of brutal dictatorship and gender apartheid denying women and children civil liberties and keeping women on virtual house arrest.
Now 10 years after the official toppling of the Taliban regime, Roya is running a thriving business and empowering women. She also heads an NGO to help widowed women support themselves financially by teaching them how to weave carpets. While women have regained freedoms that were quashed under the Taliban control, the reality is that the Taliban still exert terror and power throughout the country. Roya is regularly harassed as she drives to work, a rare site where few women drive. Hackers have attacked her company’s computer system and have threatened her employees.
But her determined spirit and support from her male colleagues (yes, she employees men) show an optimistic future for Afghanistan. With the support of NATO, women like Roya are able to grow their economy, create jobs, change attitudes and inspire the next generation.
