The Underground Girls of Kabul is a non-fiction novel by Jenny Nordberg articulating the concept of bacha posh, a tradition where young girls disguise themselves as boys in Afghanistan. The author interviews several women in Afghanistan to ascertain the custom of bacha posh. Azita is a member of parliament in Afghanistan whose last-born daughter, Mahnoush, dresses like a boy. Mahnoush has changed her name to Mehran. Azita asserts that she has given birth to only four daughters. Society can only respect her if she has a son. The urge to have a son makes her convince her daughter to dress like a boy.
Azita was also a bacha posh when she was young. Through the experience, she knows the benefits of bacha posh. Azita’s constituents love and accord her maximum respect despite knowing that she doesn’t have a boy. Nordberg also speaks to Zahra, defiant teenage resisting to dress like a girl after attaining puberty age. Zahra trains taekwondo to other bacha posh. Her resistance can be attributed to the freedoms enjoyed by young girls who dress like boys. Such girls are free to interact with boys because they are not limited by sexual identities.
Nevertheless, there are challenges that come with practicing this tradition. Nordberg interrogates Shukria, a divorced woman who could not conduct herself as a wife during marriage. Shukria admits that she disguised herself as a man until the age of twenty. When she got married, her husband divorced her because she could not act as a wife. The practice of bacha posh is perceived by the author as a practice that gives women confidence in a patriarchal society.
