Laleh Osmany

Osmany was born in 1992 in Afghanistan; she later studied Islamic Law at Herat University.^[1] In 2017 she co-founded the #WhereIsMyName social media campaign with Tahmineh Rashiq.^[2] The campaign was set up in protest against the fact that in Afghanistan, women traditionally had no right for their names to be used in public.^[3] This custom meant that women's names did not appear on official documents such as birth or death certificates, and not even on her tombstone.^[4][5]

Mary Akrami, the chair of the Afghanistan's Women Network, described the news of the change in the law as a “positive step toward establishing women’s identity".^[1] Fawzia Koofi, an Afghan former MP and women's rights activist, said that the change was "not a matter of women's rights – it's a legal right, a human right".^[6] Other supporters of Osmany's work include Farhad Darya, the singer-songwriter Aryana Sayeed, and the MP Maryam Sama.^[6]

However the change in law was not welcomed by some, who see it as disrespectful to Afghan values or an action taken to appease the USA.^[1] The Taliban, who is 2020 were in talks with the Afghan government about power-sharing, oppose the inclusion of women's names on identity cards.^[3] In addition, Osmany has received threats of violence because of her role in the campaign.^[1]

Osmany's contributions to women's rights in Afghanistan were acknowledged when she featured on the BBC's 100 Women list published in 2020.^[7]