In Afghanistan, women are largely seen as second-class citizens. Under Taliban rule, merely being a woman could be life-threatening.

While reporting in Afghanistan, freelance journalist Masha Hamilton saw women marginalized in their families and villages. Upset that women had few outlets for self-expression, she started the Afghan Women’s Writing Project .

The project connects published writers from around the world with Afghan women who are interested in writing about their lives.

The response to the project has been overwhelming, and its website has become a rare, living archive on what it means to be a woman in today’s Afghanistan.

Masha says a gruesome video of an Afghan woman’s execution sparked the idea for the project.

To read one of the poems Masha mentions in her interview, “Remembering 15,” click here.