Afghanistan: Women's rights make big gains
Women鈥檚 rights, regarded as one of the most tangible gains of international intervention in Afghanistan, have made epochal gains in recent years: 4 million girls 鈥� a record for the country 鈥� are in school. Women are police officers and pilots, judges and governors. The Constitution guarantees equality before the law.
Maternal mortality rates have dropped decidedly 鈥� from a staggering 49.4 percent in 2000 鈥� as women鈥檚 access to health care has progressed dramatically. Women鈥檚 life expectancy has increased, and women now outlive men by about three years.
鈥淓ducation is the path to everything, to success for the future of the country,鈥� says Manizha Naderi, executive director of Women for Afghan Women, a nongovernmental organization based in Kabul, Afghanistan; and New York. 鈥淎nd girls are being supported by their families. That鈥檚 a huge success.鈥�
鈥淪eeing where we came from, it鈥檚 a totally different country, a different society,鈥� she says. 鈥淧eople鈥檚 mind-sets have changed.鈥�
With the Afghan National Solidarity Program, the country鈥檚 flagship development program, came mandated women鈥檚 inclusion, and participation in local governance issues 鈥渋n ways never done before,鈥� says Dyan Mazurana, associate research professor at The Fletcher School at Tufts University and research director at the Feinstein International Center.
Under the Taliban government, women weren鈥檛 allowed to work, let alone leave the home without a male relative.
But complacency could undermine efforts to ensure that all Afghan women can enjoy their new rights, according to an Oxfam report released in December.
And oversight of aid distribution remains a serious concern. There is as yet no coordinating body for tracking and accounting for tens of millions in spending targeted at Afghan women by the Pentagon, State Department, and the US Agency for International Development, according to a Dec. 18 report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
After 13 years of progress, gains are especially vulnerable now amid systematic exclusion from negotiations and pending Western withdrawal, female leaders and policy experts say.
鈥淚 think without constant vigilance by organizations and pressure by Afghans 鈥� both men and women 鈥� and international allies that women鈥檚 rights are at risk of being rolled back by powerful conservative elements in the country, including militant fundamentalist groups and warlords,鈥� says Ms. Mazurana.
The Oxfam report, 鈥淏ehind Closed Doors,鈥� maintains that the new government and the international community must keep promises to include women more fully in negotiations on the future of Afghanistan. The report cites 11 government meetings since 2005 that lacked any women participants.
鈥淎fghan Women鈥檚 Network has made repeated requests to be at the negotiating table because we do not want our rights to be sacrificed,鈥� Lida Nadery, a member of the group, the largest coalition of women鈥檚 groups in the country, is quoted as saying in the report. 鈥淲e are not included in any talks.... [And] no one tells us what was discussed.鈥�
As international forces withdraw from Afghanistan, the country must not sacrifice women鈥檚 rights to reach a peace agreement, the report says.
鈥淲ithout investment and further commitments to safeguard women鈥檚 rights, there is a very real risk that the hard-won gains of the last decade will be lost,鈥� it reads.
Gains for women in the country have been supported by both Afghan women and men, and by international allies. Mazurana adds that women at the peace talks need to be Afghan women with a record of making progress on Afghan women鈥檚 rights.
Oxfam maintains that women should be involved at all levels of decisionmaking. The report calls on the government to establish the 30 percent minimum threshold for all Afghan government peace bodies.
Ms. Naderi says that as Western troops withdraw, it is important that development 鈥� and the funding for it 鈥� does not decrease.
The country has a long way to go, concedes Naderi. 鈥淏ut,鈥� she says, 鈥渨e鈥檙e going in the right direction.鈥�
