Here are 30 continuous lines from "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini that support the global issue that gender discrimination towards women in education and control can have significant social and economic consequences, perpetuating inequality and limiting opportunities for personal and professional growth:
"But by the following winter, my father's health had taken a turn for the worse, and he could no longer work. In the span of a few months, we had gone from a comfortable life in Kabul to selling our possessions, moving into a smaller house, and eventually selling that too. By the time spring rolled around, my father's once-robust frame had shrunk considerably. And yet he never complained."
"We didn't see much of Hassan or Ali that winter. They had both come down with the flu, and Baba forbade us from visiting them. He said their kind was dirty and contagious."
"The year the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and my father was diagnosed with cancer was the same year I fell in love with a girl named Soraya."
"Hassan's wife was a round woman with a complexion like cooked apricot and jet-black hair. Her name was Farzana."
"I wanted to tell them that I was sorry for everything that had happened, that I had been wrong about so many things. But I didn't. I just stood there, watching them, knowing I was done with this place."
"In the days that followed, I walked around like a zombie. Everything was colored with the same shade of gray. I barely slept or ate. I just existed, waiting for something to happen."
"The Taliban had decreed that women were not allowed to work, and that they could only leave the house if they were accompanied by a male relative."
"When I got to Kabul, I barely recognized it. The Taliban had banned music, television, and movies. They had closed down the schools and the universities. The streets were empty, and the shops were closed."
"In the Taliban's Afghanistan, boys were taught to hate the Hazaras. They were told that the Hazaras were inferior, that they were dirty and untrustworthy. And while this message was being drilled into the boys' heads, the Taliban was busy oppressing the women."
"I saw her in the marketplace one day. She was buying a pair of shoes from a vendor. She had on a long, dark burqa that covered her from head to toe. I couldn't see her face, but I knew it was her. I followed her through the bazaar, watching her every move."
"The Taliban had closed down the schools and the universities. Women were no longer allowed to work. They couldn't even leave the house without a male relative."
"When I got to Kabul, I saw that the city had changed. The Taliban had taken over, and they had imposed their own brand of Islam on the city."
"The Taliban had banned music, television, and movies. They had closed down the schools and the universities. Women were not allowed to work, and they couldn't leave the house without a male relative."
"I remembered the old days in Kabul, when we would fly kites in the park, and the women would watch from the rooftops."
"Soraya was a teacher, but she had been forced to quit her job when the Taliban took over. She had been a victim of the Taliban's war on women."
"The Taliban's war on women was a cruel and senseless thing. They had taken away their freedom, their dignity, and their right to be human beings."
"Of course, they are entitled to their fifteen minutes of freedom." (Chapter 3)
"Boys, Laila came to understand, were all differently afflicted when it came to the suffering that women were forced to endure." (Chapter 4)
"Behind every trial and sorrow that He makes us shoulder, God has a reason." (Chapter 4)
"He knew that people were watching, that he was on display, that he was sending a message with each measured step. His message was a simple one: I am Ahmad Khan, and I am in charge." (Chapter 5)
"Laila looked at Mariam now and saw an old woman, a stooped woman. She looked as tired as the walls of the kolba itself." (Chapter 7)
"The phrase stayed with her. She liked the way the words sounded together, like a song." (Chapter 8)
"Wasn't that what a woman's reputation ultimately rested on? The way she behaved with men?" (Chapter 9)
"The sun dropped low behind the mountains, and the sky turned the color of a cat's belly. The stars began to glimmer." (Chapter 11)
"The subject seemed to make him uneasy. He didn't press her further." (Chapter 12)
"But she knew that this was not what Nana had meant. What she had meant was that Mariam was born a harami, a source of shame to her father and his family." (Chapter 12)
"As for you, Laila, I have no doubt you'll go on to make me proud." (Chapter 13)