Founder of Rukhshana Media:
Zahra Joya (born 1992) is an Afghan journalist, feminist (20220329)

Afghan women’s media organisation Rukhshana:

It was October 2015 when a 30-second video that depicted the last moments of a young woman surfaced on Afghan social media. She was placed in a pit at a hillside near Firuzkuh, the capital of Ghor province. A group of men who surrounded her aimed her body with stones. The video shows her last moments as she falls into death. 

Her name was Rukhshana. She was stoned to death for fleeing a forced marriage for a man she loved.
 

The newsroom is named Rukhshana in her memory and to remind of the depth of gender inequality in Afghanistan, where women are killed over trying to make decisions about their bodies and their private lives. By naming the newsroom Rukhshana, the makers want every time someone says or hears the name, they remember her and her tragic death at the hands of fanatic Mullahs who still live in impunity.

Rukhshana Media was created to tell the story of women from across Afghanistan, from how they are treated at home to the difficulty of gaining inclusion in a society that religious conservatism and patriarchy have ruled all aspects of social life in the past decades. 

In a society that punishes women’s basic choices, such as the freedom to choose their clothes, bringing women’s stories to the forefront of public is a challenging task. However, at Rukhshana Media, a team of women journalists is determined to report on women’s issues as a way to create debates, inform, analyze and investigate issues related to women’s lives.

Rukhshana Media also works to provide educational and work opportunities for women journalists.