Born: 24 November 1899, Syria
Died: 20 April 1968
Country most active: Afghanistan
Also known as: ثريا طرزي
Queen Soraya Tarzi of Afghanistan pushed to modernise the country from the 1920s onward, promoting freedoms and rights for women.
Tarzi was born in Syria, where she was educated by her father, Afghan leader and intellectual Sardar Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi and her mother, editor, school principal and feminist Asma Rasmiya Khanum.
When Habibullah Khan became king of Afghanistan in 1901, he encouraged the return of Afghan exiles like the Tarzis, who promoted modernisation. Following their return, the family was invited to court, where Soraya met her future husband, then-Prince Amanullah Khan and formed a friendship. The two married on 30 August 1913, when Soraya was just 13 and her new husband was 21. Unlike previous rulers, he chose to be monogamous, dissolving the harem and freeing its enslaved women when he became king in 1926. Soraya was the first Muslim consort to appear in public with her husband, joining him for political events such as Cabinet meetings, as well as social ones like hunting parties.
As king, Amanullah oversaw the country’s first constitution, with help from his father-in-law. Soraya and other women of the royal family (including her mother- and sisters-in-law) were the public face of their changes to the benefit of women, which included campaigns against veils and polygamy, and advancing women’s education and encouraging their participation in public life. Many women in the family would go on to become government officials.
In 1921, Soraya founded the country’s first magazine for women, Ishadul Naswan (Guidance for Women), which she also contributed to and was edited by her mother. She founded the women’s welfare organisation Aniuman-i Himaya-i-Niswan, where women could report mistreatment by their husbands, brothers and fathers. She encouraged education for women and girls, opening the first primary school for girls in Kabul in 1921 and the first women’s hospital in 1924. A theatre that she founded in Paghman gave women a chance to socialise, segregated from the men. She also sent 15 young women to Turkey in 1928 to pursue higher education.
The royal couple travelled throughout Europe in 1927 and 1928, with Soraya speaking publicly to students and leaders.
In 1928, following her husband’s speech to the Grand Assembly of Tribal Elders denouncing the veil, Soraya stood up and publicly removed hers. She stopped wearing the veil when she appeared in public and other women followed her lead.
King Amanullah’s reforms led to religious violence in Afghanistan, and he abdicated the throne in 1929 to prevent civil war. The couple went into exile. She outlived her husband, and her body was returned to Afghanistan after her death in 1968, where she received a state funeral and was interred with her husband in Jalalabad. The couple’s daughter, Princess India (named for the country they first travelled to in their exile), carried on her mother’s legacy of activism.