Anand Gopal

Hundreds in Kabul staged a rare rally Wednesday, defying counterprotesters’ stones and insults.

Kabul, Afghanistan - As Fatima Fedayee clutched a banner that read “Equality Is Our Right,” an angry man charged toward her and knocked her to the ground. As soon as she picked herself up, another man hurled stones at her. Then a group of men surrounded her, screaming unsavory epithets.

But Ms. Fedayee kept holding the banner, chanting “Islam means equality!” She kept up the rallying cry for more than an hour Wednesday, alongside nearly 300 other women, protesting a law that they say would greatly restrict women’s freedoms.

These demonstrators belong to a women’s movement that has emerged with unusual boldness in recent weeks to fight the law. Unlike other campaigns around gender issues, this marks one of the few times women have openly confronted the conservative attitudes in this country – and the first time in years they have demanded their rights in a public demonstration. Like Fedayee, many have withstood hostile, even violent, opposition – sometimes from other women.

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