Original version

BBC World Service Online

From Our Own Correspondent

News

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers.

Insight, wit and analysis from BBC correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world.

From Our Own Correspondent: Afghanistan's Women and Homophobia in Russia

Afghanistan's Women ... and Russia's Gays

20/01/2014

Afghanistan's Women and Homophobia in Russia

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Afghanistan's Women and Homophobia in Russia

Female hopes and fears for the future in Kabul; the fear of homosexuality in Russia

Afghan women's hopes and fears for the future in Kabul. Plus, the fear of homosexuality in Russia

In and around Kabul, Caroline Wyatt weighs up Afghan women's hopes and fears for the future. There has been a rash of headline news recently about the bleak side of their lives, with tales of forced child marriage, child suicide bombers and widespread domestic violence. But on the ground there are also signs of hope - from mushrooming blocks of new flats to a military academy for women. 

Elsewhere, in a Russian forest, Justin Rowlatt endures a sauna session with some virulently homophobic hunters - and hears more of their alarming attitudes to gay people. 

(Photo: Afghan National Army (ANA) female officers attend their graduation ceremony in Herat. Credit: Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

From Our Own Correspondent

Afghanistan's Women and Homophobia in Russia

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service