International Women’s Day: meet female mountain guiders leading tours in Afghanistan, India and Tajikistan

On International Women’s Day, Justine Gosling meets three female mountain guides challenging a male-dominated industry

Jangu Lepcha from West Bengal is northern India’s only female mountain guide (Untamed Borders)

Today, 8 March, is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the achievements of women and calls for action to accelerate gender parity. This year’s theme is “Women in leadership: achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world.” UN Women, which coordinates the campaign, is encouraging the use of the hashtag #ChooseToChallenge, declaring that a challenged world is an alert world; and from challenge, comes change.

Gender inequalities are especially present in mountain and guiding communities. Perhaps the most remarkable example of this is on the summit of the world’s highest mountain. In 1953, two men, Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing, were the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. It wasn’t until 22 years later that the first female stood on the summit: Japanese woman Junko Tabei. Even today, membership of the British Mountain Guides (BMG), the national association that trains and assesses UK mountain guides, is 70 per cent male.

Despite these gender imbalanced statistics, women are challenging male dominance and taking their place in the mountains. Many are among the first female mountain leaders and tour guides in their countries, challenging deeply ingrained cultural and professional norms that these are not jobs nor environments for women.

Last year, Afghanistan was again declared the worst place in the world for a woman to live by the UN due to the lack of women’s rights, poor access to education and the high maternal mortality rate. But these realities haven’t held back Fatima, Afghanistan’s first female guide. She was born in one of the most deprived and outlying areas of Afghanistan called Lal wa Sarjangal in Ghor province. Not atypically, aged eight she wasn’t allowed to go to school and was instead shepherding her family’s cattle and sheep. She says: “It was tough, but running on those high hills after the animals was where I was first introduced to leading a group.”

She only started her education when her family moved due to Taliban fighting and she was offered free lessons, provided by an NGO for refugees, which taught her English and later employed her as a teaching assistant. Proud of her country’s historical architecture and beautiful nature, she began blogging about her trekking and trips to national landmarks. This soon attracted attention, and she began taking tourists along for the ride. When asked which is her favourite place, she says: “I love to guide tourists in Bamiyan because it’s historically and culturally rich and offers beautiful views for trekking.”

Fatima is a true trailblazer in Afghanistan (Untamed Borders)

Fatima’s decision to become a guide was not supported by her family, as in Afghanistan, women are discouraged from travelling without a man. “When I first decided to be a tour guide, my parents told me, ‘you will go to hell’.” But even their censure didn’t stop her: “When I guide female tourists it gives me hope; I feel like a brave girl and my self-confidence to chase my dreams increases.”

A true trailblazer, Fatima recognises the positive influence her actions have had on promoting gender equality in Afghanistan and wants to set up a guiding agency of women. “I think I am the one to make Afghanistan safe for women,” she says.

There is nothing more inspiring than a group of women together in the mountains

Mountain guide Jangu Lepcha from West Bengal, India, also got her first experience of trekking due to her family’s circumstances: “Without transport, we had to hike for four hours every day during my childhood,” she says. Jangu is the only female mountain guide in northern India, a status that comes with its own set of challenges: “Sometimes I face difficulties due to the lack of professionalism among officials. As a woman, it is always harder to get permits.”

In Tajikistan, Safina Shohaydarova became a mountain guide after trekking with a French friend, with whom she set up the NGO Women Rock in Pamirs several years later. The NGO trains Pamiri girls to become mountain guides and organises trips that enable women and girls to enjoy the mountains. Although proud of her work in supporting other women to enjoy the mountains, Safina says her greatest accomplishment is managing to balance family life with a rewarding career. “My greatest achievement is being married and having two little children, but still being able to go out to the mountains and guide, which is very unusual for our community,” she says.

Safina has co-founded an NGO alongside guiding (Untamed Borders)

All three women are employed by Untamed Borders, a tourism agency that supports adventurous travellers to experience largely unvisited areas of the world. Often the only travel company working in a country, Untamed Borders recognises the responsibility of employing staff from all major ethnic groups, as well as men and women. This gives guests a wider insight into the lives of the people and culture of the country they visit, providing a richer and fuller experience, while also practising and promoting equality.

These women, living in societies in which working as guides is barely acceptable, are also guiding the way for wider society to allow women greater freedoms. As Jangu says: “There is nothing more inspiring than a group of women together in the mountains.”

Discover more

Safina’s services can be booked here.

Fatima’s guiding services can be booked through Untamed Borders.

Jangu’s services can be booked through her Instagram or by emailing: janguadventures13@gmail.com.