Launch of First TV Station for Women in Afghanistan

Zan TV (“Women’s TV”) will be launched on Sunday with a staff of all female presenters and producers, following a high-profile marketing campaign on billboards in Kabul and on social media.

Female newsreaders appear regularly on many Afghan channels, but an entire station for women is a novelty. Its arrival highlights the fact that behind the daily stories of violence, change is taking place in Afghanistan, even if it is often slow and patchy.

“I am so happy that this TV station has been created for women because there are women in our society who are not aware of their rights,” said 20-year-old Khatira Ahmadi, a producer at the station.

“So this station represents women and we work to raise the voice of women so they can defend their rights,” she said, as reported by Reuters.

Women’s rights and education as well as media freedom are often cited by the government and foreign aid organizations as among the biggest achievements in the country since the Taliban was toppled in 2001.

Still, Afghanistan is one of the most difficult places in the world for women in the media, and in a poor and war-ravaged country — with a crowded TV landscape of around 40 stations — there is no guarantee of success.