infuriating

While the international community (and particularly Canada, who seems to be especially disturbed) debates and criticizes the egregious human rights violation that is the proposed new Afghan family law, we encounter our own dramas and difficulties...

An Afghan friend of mine is being very actively pursued--no, let's call it what it is, sexually harassed--by one of her coworkers. She's married with three children, and has repeatedly told her colleague that she does not appreciate his advances and has asked him to stop. He insists that his heart can't stop loving her. Yesterday he caught her alone and asked her to kiss him, which she firmly refused to do, and then he kissed her while she cowered in a corner. She said she cried all night, and debated whether or not to tell her husband, but decided that that would only create more problems.

This is a no-win situation for my friend. If she tells her family, they will most certainly make her stop working. If the aggressor is confronted, he can make life very difficult for her... this is after all a society in which women's honor is prized above all, but they bear the brunt if it is besmirched. If she does nothing and the situation comes to light, she will be seen as a bad woman. If she acts, her honor is also at risk.

"There are laws against this in my country!" I told her. But that doesn't help here.