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epa09645201 Afghan girl Khatira (L), 7, whose male name is Shakir, as she is being raised as a boy by her family as part of an old tradition 'Bacha Posh' plays with her father Mohammadullah and her sister outside her home in Kabul, Afghanistan, 16 December 2021. 'Bacha Posh' is a term that means 'dressed as a boy' and refers to a widely followed practice in parts of Afghanistan of raising a girl as a boy for part of her childhood before puberty. The practice is a way for families to preserve the patriarchal system and gender norms. This method is used when families want to have a son but do not have one, so they dress their daughter as a son. Shakir's father Muhammdullah has two more daughters and work as a painter on daily wages. He takes Shakir's along at work to train her as a painter in a hope that she will be able to help the family when he is no longer able to work due to old age. Shakir's only attend to Madarasa, an Islamic seminary to get education of the holy Koran and basic principals of Islam, she never went to school as her family fear she would be bullied. The value of male children in Afghanistan is due to the role that boys can play in the householdâÄ™s economic productivity. Since women and girls are not allowed to move freely, boys can be involved in income generation more easily than female members of the household. 'Bacha Posh' also enables greater female mobility within households. During the Taliban's first regime a female was not allowed to go outside of her home without being accompanied by a 'Mahram' a term used for a male relative. Bacha Posh can play the role of mahram, going out in public with their sisters, mothers and other female relatives. EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET