Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist who was a chair of the National Council of the now-defunct Respect Party. She was captured by the Taliban in 2001. She later converted to Islam. She is a vocal supporter of Palestine, which she took up as a schoolgirl. She is an avid critic of Zionism and of Western media portrayals and foreign policy in the War on Terror, and has undertaken speaking tours throughout the Muslim world as well as America, Europe and Australia. She has been called "something close to a celebrity in the Islamic world" by the journalist Rachel Cooke, and in 2008 was voted the "most recognisable woman in the Islamic world" by Islam Online.
Julie Maurine Foudy is an American retired soccer midfielder, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women's national soccer team from 1988 to 2004. Foudy finished her international career with 274 caps and served as the team's captain from 2000 to 2004 as well as the co-captain from 1991 to 2000. In 1997, she was the first American and first woman to receive the FIFA Fair Play Award.
Dr. Habiba Sarābi is a hematologist, politician, and reformer of the post-Taliban reconstruction of Afghanistan. In 2005, she was appointed as Governor of Bamyan Province by President Hamid Karzai, which made her the first Afghan woman to become a governor of any province in the country. She previously served as Afghanistan's Minister of Women's Affairs as well as Minister of Culture and Education. Sarabi has been instrumental in promoting women's rights and representation and environment issues. She belongs to the ethnic Hazara people of Afghanistan. Her last name is sometimes spelled Sarobi.
The Arthur Ashe Courage Award is presented as part of the ESPY Awards. It is named for the American tennis player Arthur Ashe. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions, as it is presented annually to individuals whose contributions "transcend sports". According to ESPN, the organization responsible for giving out the award, "recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost". The award was presented as part of the ESPY Awards ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles from 2008 to 2019. The 2020 ESPYs ceremony was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Ashe Award being one of the few awards presented, and the 2021 ceremony was held in New York City.
Football is one of the two most popular sports in Afghanistan; the other one being cricket. Formed in 1922 and affiliated to FIFA since 1948, the Afghanistan Football Federation and the Afghanistan national football team lay dormant for many years. Afghanistan took part in the 1948 Summer Olympics, playing just once in a 6–0 defeat to Luxembourg. The Afghans also appeared twice at the Asian Games.
Maria Toorpakai Wazir is a professional Pakistani squash player. She dressed like a boy for the first 16 years of her life in order to participate in competitive sports as a Muslim girl, using the name Genghis Khan, fully supported by her Muslim parents.
Angela Khalia Hucles Mangano is an American sports executive and former professional soccer player. Hucles Mangano is currently the vice president of player development and operations at Angel City FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), of which she is also a minority owner. As a player, Hucles Mangano played as a midfielder and was a member of the United States women's national soccer team.
Women's rights in Afghanistan have oscillated back and forth depending on the time period. Women officially gained equality under the 1964 constitution. However, these rights were taken away in the 1990s through different temporary rulers such as the Taliban during the ongoing civil war. Especially during Taliban rule, women had very little to no freedom, specifically in terms of civil liberties. Ever since the Taliban regime was removed following the September 11 attacks in the United States, women's rights gradually improved under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and women were once again de jure equal to men under the 2004 constitution, which was heavily based on the 1964 constitution. However, women's rights are still complicated by some groups that wish a return to pre-1964 inequality, which continues to cause international concern. When the Taliban took most of Afghanistan again in 2021, concern about the future for women in the country increased.
The Afghanistan women's national football team was the women's national team of Afghanistan and was controlled by the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) until the fall of Kabul in 2021. They played the majority of their home games at the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Bibi Aisha is an Afghan woman who fled from an abusive marriage she was forced into as a teenager, but was caught, jailed, mutilated and left to die as revenge for her escape. She was later rescued by aid workers and her story was featured in American news as an example of the effects of the Taliban's reign of terror on women. As of 2014, she lives in Maryland as the adoptive daughter of an Afghan-American couple and has received reconstructive surgery.
Maria Bashir is a prosecutor based in Afghanistan, who is the only woman to ever hold such a position in the country as of 2009. With more than fifteen years of experience with Afghan civil service - the Taliban, corrupt policemen, death threats, failed assassination attempts - she has seen them all. She was banned from working during the Taliban period, when she spent her time schooling girls illegally at her residence, when it was illegal for women to be seen unescorted by men on the streets. In the post-Taliban era, she was called back into service, and was made the Chief Prosecutor General of Herat Province in 2006. With her main focus on eradicating corruption and oppression of women, she has handled around 87 cases in 2010 alone.
Nadia Nadim is a footballer and physician who plays as a striker for NWSL club Racing Louisville FC. Born in Afghanistan, she represents the Denmark national team at international level.
Shabana Basij-Rasikh is an Afghan educator, humanitarian, and women's rights champion. She is the founder of Hela, inc. and School of Leadership, Afghanistan, and has received worldwide recognition for her work.
The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years, it was contested by the same four teams: the United States, England, France, and Germany. Since 2019 the tournament line up had featured different teams each year.
Haley (Crain) Carter is a former United States Marine Corps officer and retired American professional soccer player. She is the former assistant coach for the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team and currently serves as the goalkeeper coach for the Antigua and Barbuda Women's National Team.
The North Carolina Courage is a professional women's soccer team based in Cary, North Carolina. It was founded in 2017 after Stephen Malik acquired National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) franchise rights from the Western New York Flash. The Courage is affiliated with the men's team North Carolina FC of the United Soccer League and plays its home games at the Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park.
Khalida Popal is an Afghan football player and director. Popal is the founder and director of Girl Power Organization, the Program and Event Director of the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team, Ambassador to Street Child World Cup, and the Event Manager & Mentor/ Refugee Consultant in COLUMN. She is also the former leader of the Afghanistan women's Football Committee, former Finance Officer of the Afghanistan Football Federation, former captain of the Afghanistan Women's National Football Team, and former football coach of the under-17 and under-15 women's football teams in Afghanistan.
Zahra Mahmoodi is the former captain of the Afghanistan Women's National Football player. She was a founding member of the Afghanistan women's national football team when it was first established in 2007 and remained a member until late 2013.
Zarifa Ghafari is an Afghan activist and politician. In November 2019, she became the mayor of Maidan Shahr, capital city of the Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Zarifa used to be one of the few Afghanistani female mayors, and also was the youngest to be appointed at the age of 26. She is known for her efforts to advance women's rights in Afghanistan. Zarifa was chosen as an International Woman of Courage in 2020 by the US Secretary of State. She has survived three assassination attempts.
Farkhunda Muhtaj is a Afghan international footballer who plays for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.
