The Underground Girls of Kabul is a book by Jenny Nordberg that explores the lives of young girls in Afghanistan that are compelled by culture and traditions to dress like boys. Nordberg is a Swedish investigative journalist who unravels the challenges experienced by the bacha posh of Afghanistan. Bacha posh is a name given to Afghan girls who dress like boys. Afghanistan is a patriarchal society where women are supposed to be submissive to men. Families that give birth to pure girls are required by customs to make those girls behave like boys until puberty.
In Afghanistan, giving birth to a baby boy is an honor. Families with sons are more respected and are perceived as successful. Nordberg interviewed several women to understand more about bacha posh. Among the interviewees is a member of parliament named Azita. Azita tells the author that she gave birth to a girl. To be given venerated, Azita disguised her daughter as a son. Afghan communities respect women who sire sons. Even people who knew her child was a bacha posh respected her.
Some of the girls who are bacha posh start resisting their real identity when they become teenagers. For instance, the author encounters Zahra, a teenage bacha posh, who wants to remain a boy. Bacha posh have freedoms which they want to exercise throughout their lives. Upon attaining puberty age, such freedoms are curtailed. That makes some of them defiant and resistant.
