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Report on
Women Political Participation
In Afghanistan
Year 2005 – 1384
Introduction
Organization
Background
Women and Children
Legal Research Foundation (WCLRF) was established by
a group of Female Lawyers in 2002. At the outset, it
was found to respond to the inequalities, which were
imposed on women by the name of tradition and
custom. in Afghanistan. The first motive, to bring
about the establishment of this foundation was the
widespread discussions raised every where about
women’s rights. During these discussions traditions
and local customs were considered as the violation
of women’s rights. There were certain groups
approving the sufferings of women as part of their
tradition, but others were denying the presence of
this bitter reality that every afghan woman whether
in the urban or rural areas is tolerating
inequalities.
For many years, in
the course of social evolution of afghan society,
the debates about women’s participation in various
aspects of social and political life were indicating
somehow that women have no capacity and capability
to take over some political and social
responsibilities; which in itself has been a big
obstacle in their way to have equal participation in
various aspects of socio-political life of the
society.
Based on what has
been said, we were convinced to collect individually
and voluntarily some data, information, facts and
figures primarily in order to show the severity and
quality of women’s suffering in our social life,
secondly to clarify the responsibilities of those
who ought to have a role in preventing such problems
and normally they don’t have it and thirdly to put
our efforts for ensuring the equal rights of men and
women in the society by improving the level of
awareness of women and their supporters in afghan
society.
This foundation was
founded to stand against all those injustices and
obstacles threatening women and children, which in
short and long term need more stern attention and
support. The foundation is trying to provide means
and contexts for human rights defenders to be used
as valuable and authentic documents and proves for
defending from children and women’s rights.
In the very primary
stages of foundation of this organization while the
establishment of this shaping in our minds, we were
sure that “our way is long, we have to start and
continue our journey, even if there are obstacles in
our way we should surpass it.” However, without
any hesitation and deviation from what we had
accepted as the goal, we moved ahead and we were and
we are of the view that this foundation should say
the untold stories, and to unveil the masked truth
in order to remove the curtain from the face of
bitter realities that are imposed upon a specific
group of the society.
We were aware of the
fact that, till now, research has been considered
and used only in scientific domains. It has been
limited to search information from the books in the
libraries. We were also aware that we need to equip
ourselves with basic and essential skills in order
to get ready for the intended research. Afterwards,
we can pave the way for launching research based
reports and could emphasize the importance of this
tool for augmenting the level of social awareness
and knowledge.
There fore, as a
self-learning and probationary program, we initiated
our preliminary research project. In addition, our
aim was to increase the level of awareness and
capacity building of women for leading the research
projects. This objective, though, looked hard to
achieve due to numerous years of war and women’s
retreat and draw back during Taliban rule.
WCLRF) has started
its activities in the above mentioned conditions. So
far, despite various hardships and obstacles in its
way, WCLRF could put forward strong steps for
solidifying the position of women and to accentuate
the significance of their participation in the field
of research and studies in various aspects of
rights, law and traditions related to woman issue.
Since its birth, in
a very short period and with very restricted
resources, we could attain following achievements:
1-
Research Project on Bad- A dolorous
analgesic, Part One
2-
Research Project on Bad- A dolorous
analgesic, Final Report
3-
Starting the Woman and Politics Project
4-
Publishing a professional and research based
magazine named : Reality ( Waqihat)
5-
Training for a group to launch the primary
researches
6-
Organizing a conference on assessment of
traditions’ impact on afghan women.
Moreover, this
foundation has obtained the membership of legal
association in the ministry of women’s Affairs as
well as the membership of Afghan Women Association.
Its members had a very active role in confirming
their equal rights in the new afghan constitution.
In addition, they have vigorously taken part in the
committee of “Law and Gender” chaired by her
Excellency minister of women affairs. This
foundation has had a very dynamic presence in the
meetings of civil society.
As mentioned above,
one of the very crucial activities of this
foundation is the assessment of women status in the
present situation under the rule of countries law
and socioeconomic systems. We believe that focus on
such issues is not only effective for improving the
level of women’s awareness, but also it can be very
helpful for eradicating the obstacles and dilemmas
from the way.
About the project
WCLRF based on its
commitment for defending the rights of women and
being aware of the current political environment,
has determined to point out one of the most vital
and key issues, that is ‘Women and Politics’
in order to ensure equal rights for afghan. Women’s
political participation in the present situation,
intends to analyze some factors through assessing
the role of women in the political affairs or in
other words, the importance of the women’s political
participation in our countries political life
especially in the present time. These factors have
two fold influences: (1) they could be the
obstructions for women’s political participation or
(2) these could be the predisposing conditions for
more active participation of women in Afghanistan’s
political context .
The axial issue of
this report is that we should not ask: why should
women participate in the political affairs? Or:
what changes would be brought to by the women’s
political participation? Instead we should ask:
a)
Without women’s effective and appropriate
participation, how can we define polities?
b)
How can politics respond to the practical
knees of the society without including women, in it?
Or, is it correct to say that setting forth
legislative decrees for health, divorce, heritage
and commerce… should only be done by men?
These are some
question that are attacking our minds while bringing
forward the debates about women’s political
participation, however we should be careful of one
more important issue that during the long years of
war and conflict specially in its political life,
our country has suffered a lot, and as mentioned
above, women have always been the most vulnerable
group all the time, so data collection and debate
conduction could not be very mature at this section
of the time. Since, there is still no clear cut
definition and understanding about politics in our
society, and particularly when we cite women’s
participation, still we have to wait to see these
debates could have reached certain maturity.
Therefore, this report is the most primary effort to
open the doors for discussions such as this and to
provide the conditions for more thinking around the
issue of women’s political participation.
This report has been
provided based on many interviews with different
groups of afghan society that averagely reflects the
views of around 600 men and women (literate and
illiterate, student, government worker, shopkeeper
and many other sects of society). But we should
state that considering the topic of the research and
its goals, the geographical distribution of the
interviewees are taken in consideration and the
interview have been launched only in Kabul and the
areas surrounding Kabul.
This report is
prepared by a group of researchers (Qazi Nafisa
Kabuli, Abudl Hamid Razaq and Nilofar Qaderi) and
corrected and finalized by Hangama Anwari. We are
grateful to Open Society Institute (OSI), and the
Foundation for Culture and Civil Society (FCCS), who
have generously financed this project.
The importance of
this report
Currently, Now
Afghanistan is in a situation that proper conditions
are provided for the growth and maturation of
politics for different groups and layers of the
country men. Knowing that principle, this report
will be valuable for women and in general for
Afghanistan from different aspects that we mention
the most essential of them:
-
This report will help women to certify their
position in the society and could take advantage
from any possibility and situation. The debates and
resolutions of this report will improve their
understanding and they would be aware and responsive
to the opportunities that they have in the political
domain.
-
Releasing data and information about women’s
current participation in the politics would help
politicians and people in power to set forth logical
political frames for enhancing women’s participation
in the political affairs.
-
Revealing the basic and radical problems
hindering the participation of women in politics ,
helps other women, the society and the government to
take steps in order to resolve these obstructions
some which threats many generations
-
Mentioning some stories about afghan female
politicians to encourage and motivate other women to
take part in the political issues.
In addition, this
report will make us believe that if women could
reasonably and efficiently take part in the
political affairs, we would be optimistic that the
following changes will happen:
-
The society will accept that the
participation of women is not only for voting, but
they are apt to get elected and grasp political and
governmental positions.
-
Men who see women as workers, teachers,
doctors, etc. and find it tough to imagine a woman
in a political position will stop thinking so.
-
Rapidly, women will perceive their value and
importance in the political aspects and could
understand their responsibilities in the society
based on their equal rights with men.
Finally,
the release of this report which will be close to
the time of parliamentary election would provide
information for those women who will come to the
future parliament to know about the basic problems
of women participation in the country and to find
out about the possible measures to root out the
impediments in the way of women participation.
Further more, they would put their efforts to expand
this participation through designing effective
policies and programs and through their own active
and wise presence in the parliament.
Introduction and
Background
.The
preliminary steps in preparation of this report
were taken in July 2004. In the very earliest
stages, the conductor’s effort and struggle was to
find out the most crucial questions and issues that
could help us in preparing this report. Meanwhile,
the work on this report started when people were
preparing themselves for their first presidential
election. Without any doubt, there were many
questions regarding the participations of women at
that time, but the energetic participation of women
in the presidential election could endorse the fact
that women, despite all the problems and obstacles
in their way, are intended to take part in the
political affairs of the country.
Flowing with this
wave, from the beginning phases of the women
participation in the election, could launch bigger
discussions regarding the role of women in the
social and political life, and in particular in
their political participation. As every day many
political parties were nominating themselves for the
election, this report could use some of the views
and policies and included some of their contents in
the report.
In addition, we were
able to reflect the views of the women who have
been nominated by these parties, though very few and
by inserting their memories from their first
experiences in the election campaign and their
political competition, we were able to analyze this
issue too.
At the same time, we
launched some arguments through internet or in
direct face to face gatherings, to have the public
view and their reaction regarding the presence of a
woman as the president or chairman of parliament.
This report consists
of an introduction, three chapters, conclusion and
suggestions.
The first chapters
encompasses a brief review of the history of women
participation in the different periods, which have
specific entries regarding the women’s political
participation in Islamic world and it is ended by
discussing this issue in the history of
Afghanistan. All efforts have been made to present
the quality of women’s political participation in an
analytic manner.
But, the second and
third chapters are more focused on the data
retrieved from the research. In general, it
describes the opportunities and obstructions in
women’s political participation issue in Afghanistan
and in particular, it reflects the views of those
people, who have been interviewed.
This report, like
any other report, has provided some analytical
discussions and comes to the end with proposing
certain suggestions and recommendations.
Report Summery
As mentioned in the
introduction and background of this report, the
axis of research is women’s political participation
in present Afghanistan. The report specifically
focuses on the following issues:
1- Elucidating the
type of women’s political participation in
Afghanistan
2- Assessment of
factors favoring the women’s political participation
3- Identifying
auspicious indicators and programs for development
of women’s political participation
4- Identifying the
existing political system’s favorable conditions for
strengthening women’s political participation
5- Seeking
resolutions and recommending suggestions for
removing the obstacles and difficulties from the way
of women’s political participation
Research Method
Information and data
reflected in this report are collected by two
methods:
-
Some
of the data are collected using questionnaires.
Questionnaires have been produced by responsible
bodies of
the project and
after an tentative period has been used, which
include the following stages:
a)
Employing interviewers: at the beginning of
the project some young interviewers were employed
and trained for data collection and completing the
questionnaires by the foundation.
b)
Data Collection Phase: some special
categories of interviewees have been identified and
considering the requirements of each category,
different types of questionnaires have been
proposed. The information was collected based on the
questions in the questionnaires. ( examples of
questionnaires are attached as annexes to this
report)
c)
Interviewees Categories: Interviewees have
been classified by the following categories:
-
Female Politicians
-
Women active in the social affairs
-
Political parties
-
The ordinary people (teachers, university
students, shopkeepers, family members of female
politicians…
The total number of
which is around 600 individuals.
2. In addition, to
enrich the report and to make it a useful universal
tool, some data have been extracted from press,
international documents, historical files and
legislative texts, some books and brochures. (The
list of references are attached as annexes)
The collected
information have extensively been analyzed and as a
result the report’s research line has been
identified and according to that in a collective
manner it has been produced by the group of
researchers.
Survey Target
Areas
As stated, the
standard for classification of this report has not
been geographical distribution, but mostly
dissimilar social groups have been approached. In
the sampling, the referential context has been as
follows :
1-
State departments
2-
Non governmental organizations
3-
Educational institutions
4-
Individuals
As it has been done
with various sectors of society, we can say that its
outcomes are giving a general perspective about
women’s political participation in this country.
Principles and
Guidelines
In the all stages of
the research, it has been tried to consider the
following issues:
Obtained information
should be original and accurate.
Information analysis
should be impartial.
No discrimination
should be used in the report.
The security of the
interviewees should be the first rule of conduct.
The confidentiality
of the interviewees must be considered strictly.
Report Challenges
Basically, the most
important problem we have faced while preparing
this report was the low level of awareness of people
regarding the value of political participation,
whether related to women issue or not. The other
problem was finding women, who could have had a
political background. The process of registration,
election and its related activities, though
effective in some aspects, could slow down our
research pace.
Method of
Interview/ Average age of interviewees
The method was to
use pre-prepared questions. Sometimes, the questions
have been asked trough face to face interviews, but
on the other occasions, the questionnaires were
distributed to the interviewees to be filled out in
their free time. 600 afghan have been interviewed
from which 525 were women and 75 were men. The
average age range of interviewees was from 18 to 70.
Conclusion from
women’s political participation
After this,
“democracy” as a word is not only limited to men,
but in International Declaration of Democracy issued
in 1997, one of basic principles of democracy has
been described as such:
“Access to democracy
includes the significant participation of men and
women in the social and political affaires based on
the equality to complement each other and to profit
from one another’s differences.”
Twenty years ago, no
one had the courage to mention women’s participation
as a basis for establishing democracy. However, now
as we talk about democracy, the role of women’s
equal participation in this domain will pass the
mind automatically. Although, this issue has been
restricted to empty words in most cases and has not
been practically implemented, our today’s point of
view regarding the women’s political participation
can be counted as a very clear indicator for the
presence of democracy.
In other words,
those male politicians, who are making their slogans
and statements focused on democracy, must see it as
more active participation of women; in addition if
women are willing to have democracy in their
society, they must remember that this job will not
be possible without their active and equal
participation in the political domain.
As a result,
considering women’s political participation as a key
factor in establishment of democracy, is one of the
basic success and opportunity for women. This
report, has been written based on the above
mentioned perspective and its axial subject is “
the women’s political participation as means to
realize democracy” which plays an important role in
bringing a fundamental change in women status and
in strengthening the women’s coordination for
making stronger networks and organizations.
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