Women's rights in Afghanistan got a rare victory. For the first time, the names of mothers will be on children's birth certificates, next to the father's name. For hundreds of years, only the father's name was allowed on birth certificates. The Afghan government has just announced a new law for the mother's name to be written on certificates. Campaigners started a social media campaign in 2017 to fight for women's rights to have their names on official documents. In Afghanistan, a woman's name is often not included on wedding invitations.
Afghanistan's Vice-President called the new law "a big step forward for women's rights". The founder of the campaign group said the law was good. She said: "By printing her name, we give the mother power. The law now gives her certain powers to be a mother who can, without the presence of a man...enroll her children in school and travel." Another campaigner said: "My feeling of happiness may seem ridiculous for women in other countries, but when we live in a society where women are...excluded, achieving such basic rights is a big and difficult task."