Mariam's mother: "Women like us. We endure. It's all we have." How is this true for women in A Thousand Splendid Suns Afghanistan?

Nana is probably the most pessimistic woman in the novel
A Thousand Splendid Suns, but her statement does ring true
concerning the plight of the female in Afghanistan. In Nana's case, she was a single
mother who was left alone with her child in an out-of-the way hut by the man who
impregnated her. Uneducated, as are most women in Afghanistan, she had no prospects and
nothing to love aside from her daughter, Mariam. When Nana found that Mariam had gone to
visit her father, she hanged herself, since, in her mind, there was nothing else worth
living for. Her life was simply one of surviving--enduring--the hardships of life in a
country where women's rights were few. Mariam and Laila also sufferered similar
existences during their life with Rasheed; wearing the burka and being forced into
marriage were just two of their indignities. As do many conservative Afghan men, Rasheed
insisted that his two wives obey him completely, and brutality was usually his answer to
any of their transgressions. Afghani law, which allows women few equal rights with
men, supported his actions. In such a repressive society, there was little else for the
women to do but obey their husband and take life one unhappy day at a
time.