Marine Corps Female Engagement Team Empowers Afghan Women

What better way to uproot your enemy than by empowering his oppressed? For women in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, power is a word once again being associated with their gender.

Under Taliban rule some 10 years ago, women were forbidden from holding positions of authority. In rural Afghanistan, machismo still prevails in many families. Men forbid their wives, daughters and even mothers from leaving their homes.

In more urbanized parts of Afghanistan, women hold seats of power, but their organization from village to village has remained largely dislocated—until the Marine Corps showed up, that is.

Female Engagement Team Marines were tasked with communicating and coordinating with Afghan villagers to help stabilize the country's government. One of the key ways the FET accomplished this was by holding Shuras, or formalized meetings, to organize Afghan women, thus helping to give them a stake in the country's continued development.

"To start a women's Shura—it was very difficult," said FET Marine Sgt. Kimberly Martin, who was responsible for the first Shura in Marjah. "We first had to get out there and have the people even respond to us and invite us back."

The agricultural town of Marjah was said to have been the last stronghold for the Taliban, and a vital link to connecting several government-controlled towns in the Province.   

The FET team before Martin's had somewhat of a good relationship with a certain family in Marjah, "so we decided to build on that," said Martin.

The FET Marines visited the family, sometimes just the children.

"And in the little area that they were at, there were many women that lived there," said Martin. "But they don't really know each other that well. The women don't really leave their homes."

The biggest roadblock was in getting permission from the husbands in Marjah, Martin said.

"For them to willingly let their women travel just down the street was a huge obstacle for us," said Martin. "So it was more of like 'Hey guys, how you doing? This is what we want to do; how do you feel about it?' And we just kept on it, kept on it, until finally they were like, 'OK, we trust you now.' "

Martin started off slow, asking the family to invite their female cousins over. Then she asked how the women felt meeting with each other regularly.

After one woman came to the family's house for the Shura, that's all it took, said Martin.

"So we started doing Shuras all over the place after that. All you have to do is get your foot in the door," said Martin.

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Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the FET Marines supported the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment.