Robyn Williams: Well, International Women's Day has just passed and, by coincidence, RN is running some memories from The Coming Out Show, all about women and their lives. But consider this; there are some places where you can't be female in public until you grow up. Our PhD this week is Milla Khodai from the University of New South Wales.

Milla Khodai: In some parts of the world there is an economic and social pressure to have a son. But what do you do if you have only daughters? Different cultures have found different solutions to this problem. In Afghanistan, couples without a son revert to the ancient practice of Bacha Posh, which can be translated as 'dressing like a boy'. This practice allows parents to dress one of their daughters like a boy and to pretend the daughter is their son. Even though the public is aware that the child wearing boys' clothes is actually a girl, everyone agrees to treat the child just like a boy.

Girls passing as boys wear pants, have short hair and enjoy the freedom reserved for boys. They go to boys schools, play soccer, are allowed to leave home without being accompanied by a male family member, and can even have a job. Considering that gender segregation is common in Afghanistan, the childhood of these transformed girls is an unusual experience for a female Afghan. Dressed as boys, they gain education, experience equality and, to varying degrees, financial independence.

But once they reach marriageable age the masquerade is over, and suddenly they have to be something that they have never learnt to be; a woman. In most cases they are then married off to a man their family has chosen for them. After growing up with freedom that is reserved for men, these young women face a restricted life that is destiny for most women in Afghanistan. Not only is this a stark contrast to their previous lives, they also have to apply housewife skills which they have not learned while living the life of a man.

The ancient practice of Bacha Posh is little known in the Western world, and the current state of knowledge is based on a few documentaries and movies such as Osama or Baran. Scholarly investigations of the practice have not yet have been undertaken. This may be because Afghan culture is generally unexplored. It has been neglected by scholars.

I first came across the practice of Bacha Posh in a short magazine article. It fascinated me why Afghans changed their view on a girl as soon as she pretends to be a boy. When I asked Afghan friends, some said that they have heard about this practice or even remember families with a disguised daughter. Still, they could not provide me with further details, maybe because the practice was so trivial to them they never paid detailed attention.

With little information available it remains unclear how the gender masquerade is put into practice or how women come to terms with their experience of having passed as a boy and why the public agrees to treat these transformed girls just like boys. It appears that gender is a theatrical performance and these girls can change their behaviour and appearance and the Afghan public treats them according to the role they perform at a certain time.

With my research I want to close this gap in knowledge. I will conduct in-depth interviews with adult women in Afghanistan who were raised as boys. What I want to capture is their life experience. I will also interview members of the Afghan public to understand their concept of gender. My aim is not to showcase the otherness of Afghans but to gain an in-depth understanding of the Bacha Posh practice, and to understand the impact this practice has on women who were raised as boys.

Robyn Williams: Yes, just imagine what the psychological consequences might be. That's Milla Khodai from the department of social sciences, the University of New South Wales, where she is doing her PhD.