www.sida.se
Februari 2009
Afghanistan
Sida Country Gender Profile – Afghanistan
Forword
Afghanistan is a country facing enormous challenges. It is not only one of
the poorest countries in the world, but it also faces a situation of escalating conflict – in a time when everybody hoped for recovery and stabilisation after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001, and after almost 25
years of armed conflict.
Women and men are experiencing both poverty and conflict in different ways. This has to be known and recognised in order to facilitate and
promote development and rights for all Afghans – both women and men.
With this Sida Country Gender Profi le we don’t claim to have covered every aspect of women’s and men’s lives in Afghanistan, but as our
consultant met with many different women – and some men – we do
believe that this is a small contribution to shed some light on women’s
and men’s realities in Afghanistan today. Sometimes these realities are
considered sensitive and therefore seldom spoken of, but they must be
dealt with in Afghanistan as well as in our own country – such as violence against women for example.
The realisation of women’s and girl’s rights can’t come without a
change in people’s perceptions and actions, and such changes takes time.
It needs to be promoted so that all stakeholders understand and endorse
the benefits of women’s participation in society. Since 2001 some promising developments have been seen which needs to be acknowledged. For
example more girls than ever are going to schools and women have been
elected as MPs. Still, there are many remaining challenges to the fulfi lment of women’s rights, among them the high maternal mortality rates
and low levels of literacy.
The traditional separation of women and men makes development
for, and empowerment of, women difficult. Among other things there is
an enormous lack of female teachers, female health staff and midwives,
female police officers and other government officials. Sweden believes
that recognising women’s contribution to poverty reduction and the
development of society is an essential step in the process of constructing a
peaceful, equal and prosperous Afghanistan.
Mette Sunnergren
Counsellor and Country Manager for Development Cooperation
Embassy of Sweden
Kabul, Afghanistan
February, 2009
The views, interpretations and recommendations expressed are the authors’ and do not necessarily
reflect those of Sida.
Published by Sida 2009
Department for Conflict and Post-Conflict Cooperation in collaboration with the Gender Equality Team
Cover picture: Girl and boy students outside a school in Takhar, Afghanistan. Photo: Sofia Orrebrink
Printed by Edita, 2009
Art. no.: SIDA48577en
This publication can be downloaded/ordered from www.Sida.se/publications
Table of Contents
Methodology, Limitations and Acknowledgements ................................ 5
Gender in Afghanistan – a Summary ....................................................... 6
List of Acronyms ...................................................................................... 8
Glossary .................................................................................................. 10
1. Gender in History and Women’s Political Participation ................... 13
Gender Equality in Afghan History .................................................. 13
Elected Bodies, Village Councils and Elections ................................ 15
Shuras/Jirgas and Community Development Councils.................... 17
2. Rule of Law and Human Rights ........................................................ 19
Violence Against Women ................................................................. 22
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues (LGBT).................. 24
Migration, Human Trafficking and Prostitution .............................. 24
3. National Framework and Policy ........................................................ 26
Convention on the Elimination of all forms
of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) .................................. 26
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) .......................................... 26
Constitution ....................................................................................... 27
The Afghanistan Compact ................................................................ 27
The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) .............. 28
The National Action Plan for the Women
of Afghanistan (NAPWA) .................................................................. 28
The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) .......................... 29
Civil Service....................................................................................... 29
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission ............ 30
Donor Community and Coordination .............................................. 31
4. Overall Economic Situation ............................................................... 32
Macro-economic Situation ................................................................ 32
3
5. Socio-economic Situation ................................................................. 34
Human Development, Gender Development and Empowerment .... 34
Employment....................................................................................... 35
Demographics .................................................................................... 35
Health ................................................................................................ 36
Education ........................................................................................... 37
HIV/AIDS ......................................................................................... 39
6. Socio-cultural Situation ..................................................................... 40
7. Media and IT ..................................................................................... 41
8. Conflict ............................................................................................... 42
9. Girl-children ........................................................................................ 43
10. Resources and Further Readings ................................................... 44
Annex 1: Gender Specifics of the Afghan Constitution ........................ 45
Annex 2: Sida Generic Terms of Reference.......................................... 47
Annex 3: Meeting Schedule for the Mission to Afghanistan ................ 52
4
Methodology,
Limitations and
Acknowledgements
This Country Gender Profi le was commissioned by Sida and drafted by
a team of gender and Afghanistan experts during the autumn of 2008.
The Profi le is based on available reports and interviews that were made
during a fact-finding mission to Afghanistan in August/September 2008.
The mission consisted of two Swedish consultants, Mr. Per Larsson and
Ms. Anita Klum and was organized with the kind assistance of the
Swedish Embassy in Kabul.
A major challenge when analysing the situation in Afghanistan is to
draw conclusions from the often unreliable and contradictory data and
statistics. Nevertheless statistics are presented in this Country Gender
Profi le to indicate gender-related tendencies. The reader should keep in
mind, however, that the figures should be seen as indicative and not
factual.
Afghanistan is a disparate society with many cultural, ethnic and
religious differences. The central powers have never succeeded in controlling the whole territory and there are large differences between the
capital Kabul, other urban areas and the rural communities. Women
and men’s conditions and opportunities vary greatly between different
regions of Afghanistan and even between different tribes in the respective regions. Social class and family credentials also play an important
role in the Afghan society. The voice of poor women in rural areas is,
typically, considerably weaker than the voice of middle class women in
Kabul. And although these differences are too numerous and complex to
cover within the frame of this Country Gender Profi le, some of the
differences will from time to time be mentioned to exemplify the multifaceted nature of Afghanistan.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all who have
contributed input to this Country Gender Profi le. Especially Ms. Anita
Klum who took part in the field mission to Afghanistan and who provided valuable written input to the report. I would also like to thank Ms.
Carolina Wennerholm and Ms. Sofia Tatsis without whom this important assignment would have been impossible. I would also like to extend
my appreciation to Dr. Sari Kouvo who provided important comments
on the first draft and also to all Sida staff who provided invaluable
feedback and reality checks on the subsequent drafts.
Per Larsson, Team Leader
Stockholm, December 2008
5
Gender in Afghanistan
– a Summary
Afghanistan is a country which has been experiencing civil war and
conflicts since the end of the 1970s. These wars and conflicts have left
their mark on all aspects of the Afghan society, both private and public.
Men and women’s roles in the society have been disputed by the different
parties of the conflict and questions about what women and girls can and
cannot do have become infected political issues. Armed interventions
have been motivated by the need to protect women from exploitation and
attempts to reform traditional gender relations have often been met with
violent reactions. In such an environment, gender norms and relations are
not easily negotiated. Women who question gender roles in the family are
taking a serious risk; the same is true for politicians or civil society leaders
who promote gender equality. The infected nature of gender issues in
Afghanistan must never be allowed to become an alibi for inaction. On
the contrary, gender issues need to be discussed more intensively, both
publically and privately, to allow the stigmas and tensions around the
subject to decrease and for change to become possible.
During 2008 the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated.
The unstable and worsening security situation is having considerable
gender-related consequences as it limits the scope for change in the
society and in particular restricts the freedom of expression and movement for women. In some regions of Afghanistan the security situation
for women today is reminiscent of the the civil war period when women
could not leave their homes to conduct the most basic errands. Deteriorating security also diverts more resources and attention to conflict
resolution and unfortunately makes the implementation of development
cooperation programmes more of a challenge.
Afghanistan is a country in severe poverty with some of the worst
income, health and education indicators in the world. Large gender
discrepancies exist in access to incomes, health services and education
and women in particular are considerably disadvantaged. The situation
for women and girls has nevertheless improved during the last decade
with considerable achievements in the areas of education and health
care, but these improvements could easily be reversed if the security
situation continues to deteriorate.
Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 an elected government has been
installed which, is striving to rebuild and develop Afghanistan with the
help of the international community. A key challenge for the government
is to allow both men and women to contribute and benefit from the
6
development and reconstruction process. Women’s representation in
public life has improved particularly in the democratic institutions that
have been put in place at the central level. Today women account for 25%
of the national assembly and the proportion of women in decision-making
positions in the civil service is approximately 9%. This female representation in the governance of Afghanistan is an undisputed achievement, however, women in decision-making positions are often under considerable
pressure and take significant risks if they act and speak without the
permission of men. The challenge, therefore, is to increase the representation of women in the governance of Afghanistan and remove barriers that
hinder women from exercising their powers without interference or
threats once they are in decision-making positions.
The Afghan Constitution, Afghanistan Compact, Afghanistan National Development Strategy and National Plan for Women of Afghanistan are important building blocks for a democratic and stable Afghanistan. However, it is important to keep in mind that these important
achievements are still having a limited impact on the situation for the
majority of women and men in the rural areas, where the majority of
Afghans live; and especially in the more conservative provinces where
the differences before, during and after the Taliban have been considerably less noticeable than in Kabul.
7
List of Acronyms
ACBAR
ACC
AIHRC
AIMS
ANDS
AREU
AWBF
AWN
CEDAW
CIPE
CSC
CSO
DoWA
GEM
GDI
GDP
GTZ
GU
HDI
HPI
ICG
IDLG
IEC
ILO
IOM
ISAF
JICA
JRC
LGBT
MDG
MICS
MoWA
NAPWA
NATO
NGO
NHDR
NRVA
8
Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief
Afghan Constitution Commission
Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission
Afghanistan Information Management Services
Afghanistan National Development Strategy
Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit
Afghan Women’s Business Federation
Afghan Women’s Network
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women
Centre for International Private Enterprise
Civil Service Commission
Central Statistics Office or Civil Society Organization
Department of Women’s Affairs
Gender Empowerment Measurement
Gender Development Index
Gross Domestic Product
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit
Gender Unit
Human Development Index
Human Poverty Index
International Crisis Group
Independent Directorate for Local Governance
Independent Election Commission
International Labour Organization
International Organization for Migration
International Security Assistance Force
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Judicial Reform Commission
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Millennium Development Goals
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey
Ministry of Women’s Affairs
National Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Non-Governmental Organization
National Human Development Report
National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment
NSP
PDPA
RAWA
SCA
Sida
UNAIDS
UNICEF
UNIFEM
UNHCR
UNDP
WB
WDC
WFP
WHO
National Solidarity Programme
People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan
Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan
Swedish Committee for Afghanistan
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
United Nations Children’s Fund
United Nations Development Fund for Women
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations Development Programme
World Bank
Women’s Development Centres
World Food Programme
World Health Organization
9
Glossary
Baadal
Burqa
entire
Chador
Dari
Hanafi
Hijab
Jirga
Loya Jirga
Madrasah
Mahram
Meshrano Jirga
Mujahedin
Namus
Pashtunwali
Purdah
10
Settling a family feud where one family gives a girl to
another family as compensation.
An enveloping outer garment worn by some women
in Afghanistan for the purpose of cloaking their
body.
An outer garment or open cloak worn by some
Iranian and Pakistani women. Less enveloping than
the Burqa.
A historical name for the Persian language which in
contemporary usage refers to Persian dialects that are
spoken in Afghanistan.
The oldest schools of jurisprudence within Sunni
Islam.
To veil or to cover.
A tribal assembly of elders which takes decisions by
consensus, particularly among the Pashtun but also in
other ethnic groups.
Grand Assembly or the Afghan Parliament.
Islamic school.
An unmarriable relative with whom sexual inter
course would be considered incestuous, a punishable
taboo.
The House of Elders, upper house of the bicameral
National Assembly of Afghanistan.
A Muslim person involved in a jihad, who is fighting
in a war or involved in any other struggle.
A strongly gender-specific category of relationships
within a family described in terms of honour,
attention, respect/respectability, and modesty. The
term is often translated as “honour”.
A concept of living or philosophy for the Pashtun
people. It is regarded as an honour code and a nonwritten law for the Pashtun people.
The practice of preventing women from being seen by
men. This takes two forms: physical segregation of the
sexes, and the requirement for women to cover their
bodies and conceal their form.
Shar’ia
Shia
Shura
Sunni
Wolesi Jirga
The term means “way” or “path to the water source”;
it is the legal framework within which the public and
private aspects of life are regulated for those living in
a legal system based on Islamic principles of jurispru
dence and for Muslims living outside the domain.
The second largest denomination of Islam after Sunni
Islam.
Consultation. Council where mostly male elders take
decisions.
Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam.
The House of the People is the lower house of the
bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan
11
Afghanistan at a glance
General
Year
Surface
647,500 km2***
Religion
Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1%***
Ethnic groups
Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%,
Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%***
Languages
Afghan Persian or Dari 50%, Pashto 35%, Turkic
languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30
minor languages (primarily Balochi and Pashai) 4%,
widespread bilingualism***
Constitution
New constitution drafted 14 December 2003 – 4
January 2004; signed 16 January 2004
HDI Rank
173 (177)*
2007
GDI Rank
176 (177)*
2007
Population
32,700,000***
2008
Average annual population growth,%
2.6%***
2008
Fertility rate, children per woman
6.58***
2008
Share of population under 14,%
44.6% (male 7,474,394/female 7,121,145)***
2008
Life expectancy at birth
44.21years (male: 44.04, female: 44.39)***
2008
Economic situation
Female
Demography
Male
Total
Year
1,000 US$***
2007
GDP per capita (PPP US$)
n/a
n/a
Estimated income from paid employ-
478 $*
1,428 $*
11%****
32%****
2007
ment, in US$
Socio-economic situation
Adult literacy rate (% aged 15 and older)
Maternal Mortality, no. per 100,000 live
23%****
2005
1,600*
2004
257*
2005
births
Under 5-mortality (per 1,000 live births)
Conflict
Victims of landmines (fatalities in one
11**
105**
116**
2006
68 (27.3%)**
181 (72.7%)**
249**
2007
Members of upper parliament house
23 (22.5%)**
79 (77.5%)**
102**
2007
Civil servants in ministries and depart-
48,496
168,948
217,444**
2007
ments (excluding armed personnel) by
(22.3%)**
(77.7%)**
9%**
91%**
year)
Decision making
Members of lower parliament house
gender
Civil servants in decision-making
2008
positions (Grade 1, 2 and above),%
Judges
73 (4.7%)**
1,474
1,547**
(95.3%)**
Sources: UNDP NHDR 2007*, UNIFEM and MoWA Baseline statistics on gender 2008**, CIA
World Fact Bok 2008***, NRVA 2005****.
12
2007
1. Gender in History
and Women’s Political
Participation
Gender Equality in Afghan History
Afghanistan had been under a Pashtun monarchy for more than 200
years when the kingdom fell in 1973. During the first century after its
conception in 1747, the kingdom was ruled on the basis of the monarchs’
interpretation of the Pashtunwali. The Pashtunwali is an ancient tribal code
of honour which prescribes the norms and values of the Pashtun people
and also provides sanctions for violations of these norms and values.
While there are some indications that the Pashtunwali predates Islam, the
Pashtunwali is traditionally perceived by the Pashtun people to reflect
Islamic principles. The Pashtunwali has a heavy emphasis on traditional
values of hospitality, bravery and honour but also on the importance of
women as the embodiment of the family’s honour. In the Pashto language, the honour of women is encapsulated in the concept of “Namus”
which requires the Pashtun to defend the honour of women at all costs.
Women were freer in the 19th century, however, than they had been
under the Taliban between 1996 and 2001. Although it was considered
improper for women to associate socially with men, women could participate in public meetings and events and the traditional and religious
requirements were not interpreted so that women had to wear the Burqa.
Instead, western travellers in the 19th century reported that Afghan
women were wrapped in large white sheets.1
During the times of the monarchy there were attempts to reform and
modernize Afghan society. King Amir Amanullah launched the most
serious attempt during his reign between 1919 and 1929. Under his rule,
gender equality became a political issue and the first girls’ school was
opened in Kabul. By 1928 some 800 girls attended the school in Kabul.2
More well-off families sent their daughters to Turkey and Switzerland for
higher education. Amir Amanullah also initiated a campaign against the
wearing of the veil in Kabul and demanded a Western dress code in the
capital. A new constitution was enacted and reforms were introduced in
several branches of the legislation. These reforms introduced, inter alia,
legal standing for women, a ban on child marriages and the ability for
widows to choose their next spouse. These reforms were not rooted in
rural areas, however and soon attracted strong opposition. The emancipation of women became one of the most disputed political issues which
1
International Crisis Group, 2003.
2
International Crisis Group, 2003.
13
were disputed by several tribes. Eventually Amir Amanullah was overthrown and most of the advancements for women were lost.
After the rule of Amir Amanullah, gender norms were at large not
publically challenged in Afghanistan. The traditional norms prevailed
for the majority of women and only smaller advancements were achieved
over a longer period. In 1958, Afghanistan sent its first female ambassador to the UN and in the 1960s women were allowed to candidate for the
parliament and hold public office. Girls were allowed to attend schools in
Kabul and women were admitted into higher education. These changes
were however resisted by traditionalists and there were violent reactions
against emancipated women in Kabul. And however important these
partial improvements were, they only affected a small minority of women
in better-off families, predominantly in Kabul and provincial centres.
The majority of women had no access to education, health services, paid
employment or political participation.
In 1973, Afghanistan was made a republic by Mohammed Daoud
Shah, king Zahir Shah’s cousin, who overthrew the king and announced
himself as the president. He was then killed as the communist People’s
Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) took power in 1978.
The PDPA introduced some reforms in favour of equality. Women
were for example included in the Constitution Advisory Committee and
in the new parliament. A new constitution was enacted already in 1976
which granted women equal rights and obligations under the law, the
right to education and employment. The minimum age for marriage was
later introduced (16 for women and 18 for men) and the bride price was
abolished. The reforms were however introduced at a pace and with a
brutality that provoked the more traditional elements of society and
alienated other parts. The secularization of the Government and in
particularly the secularization of the traditional institutions like marriage
was perceived as an attack on the very fabric of the Afghan society.
Resistance grew stronger after the Soviet invasion in December 1979 and
manifested itself in a Mujadein lead insurgency. This was the start of a
conflict that has continued in different forms for almost three decades; a
conflict where disagreement over the status of women has always been
central.
The Soviet forces withdrew in 1989. A communist government
remained in power for three more years before the Mujahedin managed
to overthrow it. The Mujadein then began fighting amongest themself.
The civil war had a devastating effect on the Afghan people, and women
in particular. A large displacement started where many flew to nearby
provinces in Pakistan and Iran. Social and economic indicators fell even
lower. Maternal and infant mortality numbers were in the mid-1990s
among the highest in the world and the life expectancy was around 40
years. Approximately 90% of the female population was illiterate. Although women’s organizations like the Revolutionary Association of
Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) started to operate during the civil war
many of them were attacked by the Mujahedin forces.
In 1994, the Taliban emerged in the southern provinces of Afghanistan and by 1996 they had captured Kabul. The Taliban was a mostly
Pashtun reactionary movement with its roots in the Deobandi Madrasash
in the border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban rule
lasted until 2001 and constituted probably the most notorious oppression
against women in modern history. In power the Taliban restricted even
the most fundamental of women’s freedoms under the pretext of protecting women’s Namus, or honour. Women were even restricted from leaving
14
home without a male escort.3 Education became in practice inaccessible
for girls since the Taliban required separate schools for girls. Boys’ education also suffered since most of the teachers when the Taliban took over
were women. Subsequently even home education for girls was forbidden.
Employment for women was restricted to the medical sector where they
were needed to examine and treat other women. Women were required to
wear the Burqa and even the Iranian Chador was ruled improper as it
revealed too much of a woman’s “stimulating and attractive“ features.4
The Taliban regime argued that they were enforcing traditional Islamic
and Pashtun norms while in fact the restrictions on women’s and girls’
rights and freedoms were unprecedented in Afghan history.
On 7 October 2001 the United States lead a UN mandated international intervention into Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 2001 attacks
on the United States. In December the same year a number of prominent
Afghan and international leaders met in Bonn, Germany under the UN
auspices and concluded the Bonn Agreement. The agreement laid out
the lines for an Interim Authority and the international military presence
in Afghanistan – the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The
agreement acknowledged the importance of women’s participation in the
Interim Authority and that a “significant number of women” should be
represented in the Emergency Loya Jirga. At the Bonn conference a new
ministry was also created, the Ministry for Women’s Affairs (MoWA).
Elected Bodies, Village Councils and Elections
On 4 January 2004 the Constitutional Loya Jirga approved a new constitution, replacing the 1964 Constitution which had been in place since the
Bonn Conference5. The Constitution provides for a democratically
elected president and national assembly. The assembly consists of two
houses; the Wolesi Jirga and the Meshrano Jirga (the houses of Peoples and
Elders respectively). The Wolesi Jirga, which is the more powerful house,
consists of 249 delegates directly elected through the Single Non-Transferable Vote system (SNTV). Members are elected on a provincial basis
and serve for five years. At least 68 delegates (two from each province)
must be women. The Wolesi Jirga has the primary responsibility for
enacting and ratifying laws.
The Meshrano Jirga consists of 102 local dignitaries and experts currently elected by the provincial councils or appointed by the president.
For ex. the president appoints two representatives for the physically
disabled. The lower house passes laws, approves the budget and ratifies
treaties – all of which require the subsequent approval of the Meshrano
Jirga. The lower house also has veto power over senior appointments and
policies. Afghanistan is divided into 34 provinces. Provincial councils
govern each province with members elected for four-year terms. The
councils do not have legislative authority but are involved in planning,
development oversight and conflict resolution. An important part of the
councils’ responsibility is to “participate actively, where possible, in the
elimination of customs and traditions contrary to the law and Shar’ia
such as forced marriages and exchange of females for settlements of
disputes”6. There are 420 seats in the provincial councils, of which 124
are earmarked for women.
3
A close relative referred to as “Mahram”.
4
International Crisis Group, 2003.
5
The Bonn Conference took place in 2001 after the NATO-led invasion of Afghanistan and was a forum intended for the
agreement on the reconstruction of Afghanistan (referred to as the Bonn Agreement).
6
Law on Provincial Councils.
15
Many women who run as candidates for a seat are sponsored and supported by men who utilize the quota system to voice their interests
through women who are elected (so-called tokenism7). An international
development specialist who was interviewed by the Mission in Kabul
stated that women in the National Assembly can roughly be divided into
three equally large groups: 1) women who are token candidates and are
controlled by men, 2) women who belong to the intellectual NGO elite in
Kabul, and 3) women who have entered the Assembly for the remuneration. These three groups do not normally cooperate as they belong to
interest groups that demand stronger loyalty than gender. An exception
was in 2008 when women collectively in the Assembly demanded a
specific budget line for gender equality. When the majority turned the
proposal down, the women collectively left the premises and the resulting
pressure on the male majority was so strong that it finally approved the
earmarked funds for gender equality.
A major concern for parliamentarians in general, and women parliamentarians in particular, is security. The security situation has deteriorated further since the elections in 2005 and is expected to have a negative impact on the number of female candidates in the presidential/
provincial council elections in 2009 and the national assembly/district
elections in 2010. The gender balance in the different provinces varies
widely in Afghanistan as a consequence of the ethnic, religious and
cultural fabric of Afghanistan. The Bamyan Province at the centre of the
country is arguably the most gender-equal province and the only province with a female governor. The province is the capital of the Hazara
ethnic group and was also the site of the famous 4th and 5th century
“Buddhas of Bamyan” statues before they were destroyed by the Taliban.
Table 1: Proportion of Women Members in the National Assembly, 2007
Women
National
Total number of
assembly
Number
%
seats
Wolesi Jirga
68
27.3
249
Meshrano Jirga
23
22.5
102
Source: Parliament, Kabul, 2007
Table 2: Proportion of Female and Male Candidates in the National Elections in 2005
House/council
Lower House of the
Women
Men
Number
%
Number
%
317
11.7
2387
88.3
211
7.5
2590
92.5
National Assembly
Provincial Council
Source: Asian Development Bank, 2005
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) supervises the elections in
Afghanistan. The Commission has approximately 205 staff members of
which approximately 5% are women. An important and challenging task
for the Commission is to register voters prior to the elections. For the
upcoming elections in 2009 and 2010, the Commission started the
registration of voters in October 2008. For the 2005 elections 46% of the
eligible voters were registered, although the percentage was distributed
very unevenly between the provinces. There were several instances in the
2005 elections where supporters of certain candidates tried to register
7
Tokenism refers to a policy or practice of limited inclusion of members from a minority group, usually creating a false
appearance of inclusive practices, intentional or not.
16
several times to win an advantage. Especially widespread was the practice
for men to register as women since women are for cultural reasons not
required to register with their photograph. The parliamentary candidates
in 2005 were all independent; the law does not recognize parties and
party lists do not exist. A low turnout was partially explained by the lack
of identifiable party lists as a result of Afghanistan’s new electoral law,
which means that in many cases voters were uncertain about whom they
were voting for.
Shuras/Jirgas and Community Development Councils
Community councils, known as Shuras/Jirgas, have played a critical role
in the Afghan society for many generations. Traditionally, Shuras are
councils in Pashtun-dominated regions while Jirgas are councils in
Dari-speaking regions. This ethnic distinction has somewhat diminished
and today Shura is typically referred to as a council for resolving local
political issues while Jirga is referred to as a council for community
dispute resolution. Few women have a say in Shuras/Jirgas.8 To give
women a chance to present their issues when they are not accepted in the
traditional local councils, international donors and NGOs have initiated
and supported so-called women’s Shuras where women have the opportunity to discuss their issues in a women-only environment. These Shuras
allow women to express and discuss their issues and concerns more freely
and play an important role in cases women previously had few or no
forums to voice their grievances. It is important to keep in mind, however, that women firstly have to agree in the women’s Shura and then
turn to an entrusted man, if there is anyone, who can represent the the
women’s interests in the male Shura, which traditionally is the only
decision-making body in the community. Also, donor- and NGO- supported Shuras are vulnerable as they often rely on external assistance
which is time-bound.
In the tradition of Shuras/Jirgas, Community Development Councils
(CDC) have been introduced by the National Solidarity Programme
(NSP). As opposed to the Shuras/Jirgas, the representatives of the CDCs
are elected and not appointed. The CDCs exercise a measure of selfgovernance through administration of block grants for construction,
education and health initiatives. The minimum baseline for CDCs set in
the NSP is 30% women while the goal is 50% women. Only nine provinces, however, met the minimum baseline in 2007. The elections to the
CDCs have showed a relatively high participation of women. In some
locations the number of women voters even outnumbered men. But the
prevailing attitude is still that women should not be engaged in community decision-making and that women need the permission of a male
relative (Mahram) to vote.
8
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
17
Table 3: Number of CDCs and gender ratio, March 2007
Rank
Province
No. of CDCs
Female members in%
1
Hirat
239
45.5
2
Samangan
240
40.9
3
Kabul
135
38.1
4
Daykundi
192
37.8
5
Badghis
249
35.2
6
Bamyan
334
33.8
7
Wardak
282
32.4
8
Ghazni
501
30.9
9
Balkh
290
30.2
10
Kapisa
364
29.5
11
Logar
294
28.9
12
Farah
179
27.3
13
Sari Pul
275
27.1
14
Jawzjan
251
260
15
Nangarhar
294
25.8
16
Paktya
448
25.2
17
Takhar
315
24.9
18
Kunduz
315
24.2
19
Faryab
327
24.2
20
Baghlan
420
24.1
21
Khost
306
18.5
22
Paktika
314
18.8
23
Parwan
255
18.1
24
Badakhshan
350
18.0
25
Laghman
353
17.7
26
Ghor
336
11.7
27
Kunarh
215
11.2
28
Nimroz
162
9.7
29
Nuristan
173
9.3
30
Panjsher
103
7.5
31
Zabul
122
4.0
32
Kandahar
328
0.8
33
Hilmand
382
0.4
34
Uruzgan
51
0.0
9394
24.0
Total
Source: National Solidarity Programme, Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development, Kabul,
May 2007
18
2. Rule of Law and
Human Rights
There are basically two parallel legal systems in Afghanistan9; the first is
the formal system and the second is the customary system (informal legal
system). Both systems acknowledge the Qur’an as their supreme legal
source. The formal system is conceptualized in the 2004 Constitution
and is slowly being reformed with support from international donors and
organizations. The Afghan Constitution has an important limitation to
positive and international law. The third Article states: “No law shall
contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in
Afghanistan”. According to the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the
powers to interpret whether international treaties and statutory law
contravenes the Constitution and thus Islam as interpreted in Afghanistan. In addition, according to the Constitution courts are allowed to use
Hanafi jurisprudence10 in situations where statutory law lacks provisions
and apply Shia jurisprudence for Shia believers when the case involves
personal matters. This has serious consequences for women since Islamic
law is discriminatory against women, particularly in family and property
matters. But legality and due justice are not only affected by the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence, but also by two decades of civil war, corruption and the lack of secular legal education.
It is estimated that less than 20% of all disputes are settled through
the formal court system.11 Public confidence in formal justice is extremely
low. One reason for the unpopularity of the formal courts is that they are
primarily located in provincial capitals while approximately 75% of the
population lives in rural areas where the road infrastructure is poor.
Another reason is the high level of corruption in the formal court system
and the phenomenon of “telephone justice”12 and other forms of improper influence.13 Yet another reason for the unpopularity of formal justice is
that Shuras/Jirgas place more importance on restoring social harmony in
communities while courts often can provoke even more disputes among
the parties.
9
The distinction between formal and informal justice is however often blurred in practice, as for example the formal system sometimes refer to local councils for dispute resolution and local councils sometimes apply statutory law.
10
Sunni Islamic jurisprudence.
11
Swedish MFA, 2007.
12
A practice whereby the executive branch contacts judges and delivers instructions on the judgement.
13
Swedish MFA, 2007.
19
There is a severe lack of trained legal professionals, especially women.
The majority of judges do not have any secular legal training and many
are not even trained in Islamic jurisprudence. There is also an insufficient number of defence lawyers and most criminal cases are heard in the
absence of a defence lawyer. The gender balance in the legal professions
is heavily tilted in favour of men. One of the reasons for the low number
of female legal professionals is that the number of women in legal education is very low. Out of the 170 students who completed the judicial stage
course14 in 2006, only 12 were women. And in 2007 only 30 out of 365
applicants to the judicial stage course were female.15
Table 4: Proportion of women and men as judges, attorneys and prosecutors in
Afghanistan
Position
Judges
Female
Male
Total
No.
%
No.
%
No.
73
4.7
1474
95.3
1547
Attorneys
76
6.1
1165
94.9
1241
Prosecutors
35
6.4
511
94.6
546
Source: Supreme Court, 2007 and Attorney general, 2006
There are approximately 62,000 police officers in Afghanistan. The
police per capita ratio is roughly the same as in many Western countries,
which is low given the conflict situation in Afghanistan. Since the 1960s
women have made up a small fraction of the police force and the proportion has slightly increased over the last few years.16 A new police unit, the
Family Response Unit (FRU) was recently established in Kabul to deal
with violence against women. The unit is made up exclusively of female
police officers and investigates domestic abuse in the capital. Despite the
establishment of the FRU in Kabul there is a considerable lack of female
police officers throughout Afghanistan, which has a negative impact on
prosecutions since many female victims of abuse hesitate to report their
experiences to male police officers. Violence against female police
officers is also a fact of life. In September 2008, for example, two gunmen on a motorcycle gunned down a high-ranking female police officer
in the southern city of Kandahar.
Table 5: Number of women in the police force, May 2005 – Feb 2007
Category
2005
2007
Difference
Officers
80
93
13
Sergeants
84
118
34
Patrol
0
22
22
Total
164
233
69
Source: UNDP NHDR, 2007
The conditions in correction facilities have been under the scrutiny of
human rights organizations, that have reported about torture, overcrowded conditions and generally poor conditions. Women’s detention
has also been criticized as there is a lack of separate facilities for women
and facilities that can house detainees’ children. A new closed prison for
14
Legal training for judges.
15
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
16
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
20
women was constructed in Kabul in 2007 to address the lack of facilities.17 The total number of prisoners in 2007 was 6,156 out of which 3.3%
were women.18 Several interlocutors reported to the Mission that the
majority of female prisoners are sentenced for Zina-related crimes (adultery-related crimes, see more about Zina below).
As mentioned above, informal or customary law plays an important
role in contemporary Afghanistan. It is difficult to conceptualize and
describe customary and tribal law in Afghanistan because of the lack of
codifications and the big discrepancies between regions and tribes. Local
warlords are also intervening in the resolution of disputes and therefore
influencing or deciding the outcome of the disputes.19 An important
difference between Afghan customary law and secular Western law is the
former’s reliance on compensatory outcomes as opposed to punitive
outcomes. Thus murder, rape, theft, etc. is settled in Afghan customary
law by the perpetrator compensating the victim. An example is the
practice of giving one or several young girls in compensation for a
wrongdoing (Baadal).
Two important concepts in Afghan traditional societies that are
important when considering gender and informal justice are Purdah and
Namus. These concepts are enshrined in the Pashtunwali but do not seem
to be exclusive to the Pashtun population. Purdah is Urdu for “veil” and
refers to the physical and cultural boundary between women and men.
The interpretation of Purdah varies from tribe to tribe. In the north, for
example, the Kuchi nomads allow women to appear in public spaces
without a veil and to receive male guests while their men are out with the
herds for days. In other tribes, Purdah is interpreted so strictly that women are not even allowed to attend education classes or visit health care
facilities. Purdah is also establishing boundaries for men. A man may not
enter a designated female space in another family’s house. If he does, the
head of the family has to protect his Namus. In most cases, however, Purdah
means restrictions for women and girls and is often perceived as a set of
rules for what women can and cannot do. Namus is commonly understood
in Afghanistan to be the “defending the honour of women”, although in
many parts of the Muslim world the concept refers to simply “honour”.
For a man and his family, Namus means sexual integrity of women in the
family and their chastity in particular. On the other hand, the man has to
provide for his family and to defend the Namus of his house, his women in
particular, against the threats to members of his extended family from the
outer world. Namus of a man is determined by Namus of all the women in
his family (i.e. mother, wives, sisters, daughters).
Another important concept is Zina. Zina means to have sex outside
marriage – to commit adultery – and is considered to be a grave breach
of the Shar’ia. Homosexuality, masturbation and prostitution are also
often interpreted as a form of Zina. The punishment for Zina in customary justice is whipping or stoning. Because of the seriousness of the
crime, the evidence normally has to be strong to prove Zina The plaintiff
has to provide at least four male witnesses, while women are not allowed
to provide witness statements at all. For a female rape victim these rules
are particularly troublesome since the victim has to find four men who
witnessed the rape, otherwise she risks being accused of false accusation
which can also lead to punishment by whipping or imprisonment.
17
Swedish MFA, 2007.
18
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
19
However, the UNDP Afghanistan Human Development Report from 2007 states that the general perception that warlords
often interfere in the decision–making of Jirgas/Shuras is often exaggerated.
21
Women and girls’ inheritance is virtually non-existent in Afghanistan
because even when women inherits, a close male relative will normally
receive control of the property. In Islamic law, daughters inherit half of
son’s share and wives are only entitled to 1/8th of her husband’s property.
The local interpretation of the Shar’ia in Afghanistan varies between
different tribes. Some studies indicate that women’s inheritance is more
frequent in Tajik tribes than in Pashtun tribes. Another aspect of inheritance is the actual control of inherited property, because even if a women
owns land on paper, the man usually exercises the actual control of the
land.
Most disputes in Afghanistan are resolved informally at the discretion
of village elders, often within traditional councils – Shuras/Jirgas20. These
councils decide matters by consensus and the decisions are binding for all
parties involved. The councils are almost exclusively composed of elderly
men who have a reputation for being honourable. The councils take on
civil disputes (land, water, housing etc.), family disputes as well as criminal matters. The councils apply different sources of law, of which tribal
law and Shar’ia are the most important. The perception of the councils is
that all decisions are based upon the Qur’an. But many council members
are illiterate and the Qur’an is read in Arabic, a language that few Afghans master. Women are usually disadvantaged when applying customary law as it grants women less rights than formal law. For example, in
statutory law the minimum marrying age for girls is 16, while Shia
Islamic tribes usually apply a minimum age of 13, and many times even
lower. Women’s access to informal justice is also seriously constrained by
traditional customs that hinder women from even registering their own
cases. Women’s access to formal justice is rarely any better because, inter
alia, women risk being ousted from their communities if they turn to a
court and also because the high illiteracy rate among women.
Table 6: Influence and decision-making in Jirgas and Shuras
Group
Has most dominant role
Has one of the most
dominant roles
Ordinary elders (rishsafidan)
63
78
Mullahs
18
48
Local leaders (khan or malik)
15
46
Commanders
3
17
Women
0
3
Other
1
1
Don’t know
0
0
Source: UNDP NHDR, 2007
Violence Against Women
The frequency of violence against women and girls is difficult to estimate
as most surveys that have been conducted are too limited in respondents
and coverage to give a reliable estimate. The Afghanistan Human
Development Report from 2007 states “violence against women is widely
believed to have reached epidemic proportions. Yet, because the majority
of cases remain unreported, … limited evidence exists to confirm this
perception”. But whether the violence is epidemic or not there are
enough indicators to support the perception that violence against women
20
See above for women’s representation in Jirgas/Shuras and the political role of them. In this section the councils’ role
in dispute resolution is described.
22
is a tremendous problem in Afghanistan. This is not least highlighted by
the high figures of forced marriages and child marriages.
In a study by UNIFEM it was found that about 80% of the violence
occurs within families. The perpetrators are mostly men with the husband being the most common violator. However, mothers- and sisters-in
law also have a strong power position within many Afghan families and
in a Global Rights survey were found to be the perpetrators in 34% of
the violence against women.
Table 7: The perpetrators of violence against women21
Husband
30.6%
Mother-in-law
23.7%
Sister-in-law
10.4%
Brother-in-law
9.9%
Father-in-law
7.4%
Husband’s uncle
1.5%
Other person
16.5%
Source: Global Rights, 2008
It is estimated that 58%–80% of all marriages in Afghanistan are forced
marriages.22 The term ‘forced marriage’ covers a wide array of practices
that range from bride kidnapping, exchange of girls to so-called arranged marriages between consenting families (albeit where the spouse’s
consent does not count).
The Afghan penal code exempts ‘honour’ killings in adultery matters
from punishment for murder but states that the perpetrator should be
punished to imprisonment for up to two years. In practice, men who
murder their wives, daughters or female relatives are often not punished at
all and, in addition, rape victims are often considered to have committed
adultery. There is no specific criminal statute against rape in Afghanistan.
Baadal is a practice of settling a dispute by exchanging girls between
families. Baadal is banned in the penal code and yet is practised, particularly in rural districts and the tribal belt. There are few reliable estimations of the scope of the problem, especially since population registration
is extremely weak in Afghanistan.
The practice of burning oneself (self-immolation) is reported to be
frequent among women and girls in Afghanistan who are exposed to
psychological and physical violence over extended periods. The phenomenon is particularly common in western Afghanistan and anecdotal
evidence suggests that several hundreds of women burn themselves to
death every year. AIHRC reported that from May to July 2006 there
were 106 cases of female self-immolation in Kabul and Herat alone.
Self-immolation among women and girls can be found in several Asian
countries but has become more frequent in recent years, mostly as a
protest and to escape abuse from the family and community.
Spousal rape and extra-marital rape is rarely prosecuted in Afghanistan, mainly for two reasons. Firstly, it is very difficult for a raped woman
to prove the man’s guilt as she often has to produce several witnesses.
The man, meanwhile, can just claim that there was consensual sex.
Secondly, and more importantly, because the woman is often doubly
victimized if she turns to a court or Jirga/Shura as she risks being pros21
There were 4,700 respondents from 16 provinces who participated in the survey.
22
AIHRC and Global Rights, 2008.
23
ecuted for adultery or false accusations. Several cases of rape have
attracted international attention in recent years. In particularly when
women have been sentenced to death for adultery after reporting a rape.
Men and boys are also frequently raped and abused in Afghanistan.
Boys, for example, are reportedly taken as sexual slaves by warlords (this
practice was confirmed to the Mission by several NGOs in Kabul).
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues (LGBT)
Information about LGBT issues in Afghanistan is scarce and the Mission
was not able to consult with any organization or network that represent
the interests of LGBT-persons. Homosexuality, and in particularly
female homosexuality, is taboo in the public discussion and the legislation only recognizes male homosexuality. During the 1970s, male homosexuality was criminalised and after the Taliban took over in 1996 male
homosexuality became a crime which carried the death sentence. Today
male homosexuality is not a capital crime in the Penal Code; however,
the Chairman of the Supreme Court has allegedly stated that male
homosexuality is a capital crime which has caused some confusion as to
the punishment for male homosexuality.23 There is no public advocacy
for LGBT rights in Afghanistan and LGBT persons usually network
underground not to draw attention.
Migration, Human Trafficking and Prostitution
During the civil war and the NATO-led invasion, millions of Afghans
fled to neighbouring countries, mainly to Pakistan and Iran. Since 2001,
UNHCR has assisted as many as 4.5 million refuges return from Pakistan and Iran to Afghanistan. At the end of 2007, UNHCR estimated
the number of Afghan refugees to be around 2,100,000 in Pakistan and
920,000 in Iran. Because of the number of Afghans who have been
refugees, the Afghan society has been receiving extensive influences from
other countries and cultures. These influences have often related to
gender norms and relations in the society, i.e. women’s role in the public
and private sphere. For example, many Afghan refugees who have
returned from Iran have seen the relative freedom for women in Iran, as
they are more involved in productive work and do not have to wear the
Burqa. These influences are usually geographically limited, as most of
those who fled to Iran came from western Afghanistan while those who
fled to Pakistan came from southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is a Tier Two country according to the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person (TIP) report from 2008. This means
that while Afghanistan is not fully compliant with the TIP requirements,
its government is making a significant effort to be compliant. The country is a source as well as transit and destination country for sexual exploitation and forced labour. Afghan women and girls are trafficked internally as well as being sent to Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Oman
and to other Gulf States for sexual exploitation. Afghanistan is also a
destination for women and girls from China, Iran, and Tajikistan trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Many of the clients are reported to be international contractors working in Afghanistan. There is no
comprehensive criminal statute against human trafficking in the Afghan
legislation.24 Instead traffickers are prosecuted with kidnapping offences
and other criminal offences. The General Attorney’s office is now estab-
23
Rulings in the formal legal system have so far been giving lengthy prison sentences rather than the death penalty.
24
Although there is a Presidential decree against child trafficking.
24
lishing anti-trafficking offices in the provinces. However, prosecution is
weak and many victims are doubly victimized as they are being prosecuted for adultery or prostitution when they in fact are trafficking victims.
IOM is helping the Government to conduct public awareness campaigns
and many donors and NGOs support various shelters for trafficked
persons.25
Information about Afghanistan’s sex industry is scattered and few
solid figures exist. But since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001,
prostitution has become, if not more widespread, at least more open.
Under the Afghan Penal Code, prostitution is often considered adultery.
25
U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person report and IOM Trafficking in Persons report, 2008.
25
3. National Framework
and Policy
International treaties
Afghanistan has ratified or accessed the following treaties that pertain to
gender equality and women’s rights:
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, CEDAW (1979)
• Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
• International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(1966)
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW)
Afghanistan signed and ratified CEDAW on 23 March 2003 without
reservations but has not yet reported to the CEDAW Committee despite
the first report being due in 2007.26 The optional protocol of the
CEDAW has not been signed by Afghanistan. In 2008, a woman from
Afghanistan was elected member of the CEDAW committee until 2012.27
Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
The latest MDG report from 2005 states that Afghanistan needs to
accelerate efforts to meet the national targets for gender equality. The
report acknowledges that although improvements have been made, in
girls’ education, for example, there is still a “systematic discrimination
against women and girls in Afghanistan, which starts early in life and has
long been perpetuated through cultural systems, particularly during the
Taliban rule”. Still the UN stated in 2005 that the targets could potentially be met before 2020. The authors of this Country Gender Profi le
are, as of the autumn of 2008, more pessimistic about the prospects of
meeting these targets, particularly because of deteriorating security in
2008.
26
State parties to the Convention should report to the treaty body (CEDAW-committee) every fourth year. The reporting
includes the presence of Afghanistan representatives at a CEDAW session and the delivery of concluding remarks from
the Committee to the Government. NGOs are also allowed to present shadow reports along with the Government’s report if they so wish.
27
Ms. Zohra Rasekh was previously the Director of Human Rights and Women’s Affairs at the Afghan Ministry of Foreign
Affairs
26
Table 8: Can Afghanistan meet the MDG targets for gender equality and women’s
empowerment?
Target 4: Elimination of
Will the target be met?
State of policy environment?
Potentially
Weak but improving
Potentially
Weak but improving
Potentially
Fair
Lack of data
Weak but improving
Probably
Strong
Potentially
Fair
Unlikely
Weak but improving
Lack of data
Weak
gender disparities in primary
education no later than
2020.
Target 5: Reduce gender
disparity in economic areas
by 2020.
Target 6: Increase female
participation in elected and
appointed bodies at all levels
of governance to 30% by
2020.
Target 7: Reduce gender
disparity in access to justice
by 50% by 2015 and
completely (100%) by 2020.
Assessment scale
Source: MDG-report, 2005
Constitution
The current Afghan Constitution was approved by the Constitutional
Loya Jirga on 4 January 2004 after being prepared by the Afghan
Constitution Commission (ACC) which was mandated to draft the
Constitution at the Bonn Conference in 2001. The ACC was composed
of 35 members appointed by President Hamid Karzai. Seven of the
members were women. The Constitution was considered to be a milestone in the development and reconstruction of Afghanistan and was at
the time of its adoption praised by the CEDAW Chairperson, Ms. Feride
Acar, who stated that “the newly approved Constitution explicitly guarantees that men and women have equal rights and duties before the law”.
The 2004 Constitution, however, is a complex legal construction with
elements from the international principles of the rule of law as well as the
principle of the supremacy of Islamic jurisprudence (Shar’ia). The result is
a situation of legal and philosophical ambiguity. This ambiguity is not
least particularly apparent when scrutinizing the Constitution from a
gender perspective. One example is inheritance rights: according to the
Constitution’s Article 22, men and women have equal rights but according to Article 3, the Shar’ia has supremacy which means there are
different inheritance rights for males and females. See Annex 1 for a
short gender analysis of the 2004 Constitution.
The Afghanistan Compact
The Afghanistan Compact28 is the outcome of the 2006 Afghanistan
Conference in London and is an agreement between Afghanistan, the
United Nations (UN), donors and international organizations on the
development and reconstruction of Afghanistan until 2010. The Com28
http://www.unama-afg.org/news/_londonConf/_docs/06jan30-AfghanistanCompact-Final.pdf
27
pact identifies three critical areas in which activities should be concentrated until 2010. They are: 1) Security; 2) Governance, Rule of Law and
Human Rights; and 3) Economic and Social Development. Gender
equality is part of the second area and the Compact states that “by the
end of 2010 the National Action Plan for Women’s Affairs (NAPWA) will
be fully implemented; and in line with Afghanistan’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), female participation in all Afghan governance
institutions, including elected and appointed bodies and civil service will
be strengthened.” The Compact also mentions that ”by end-2010, justice
infrastructure will be rehabilitated; and prisons will have separate
facilities for women and juveniles” and that ”by end-2010, the number of
female-headed households that are chronically poor will be reduced by
20%, and their employment rates will be increased by 20%.”
The Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS)
The Afghanistan National Development Strategy29 (ANDS) was adopted
during the Paris Conference in July 2008. The strategy has three pillars
that corresponds to the Afghanistan Compact’s areas: 1) Security, 2)
Governance, Rule of Law and Human Rights and 3) Economic and
Social Development. Gender equality is addressed as a cross-cutting
issue in the ANDS. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs is identified by the
ANDS as the lead ministry in promoting gender equality. The ANDS
also encourages the establishment of women’s Shuras and provides a
mechanism where gender will be included in consultative and working
groups consisting of representatives both from Afghanistan and the
international community.
The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA)
The National Action Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA)30 is a
10-year plan of action to deliver on Afghanistan’s commitments under
the Beijing Platform of Action31. The NAPWA focuses on six sectors:
• Security
• Legal Protection and Human Rights
• Leadership and Political Participation
• Economy, Work and Poverty
• Health
• Education
The goals of the Plan correspond to the goals of the Constitution but also
to international commitments that Afghanistan has made with the
signatures of the MDGs and the CEDAW. The main tool for achieving
the Action Plan’s goals is gender mainstreaming and the ministries have
a key responsibility to mainstream gender into their policies and actions
according to the NAPWA.
29
http://www.ands.gov.af/
30
http://www.ands.gov.af/ands/Provincial_Consultations/details.asp?id=22
31
The Beijing Platform for Action is the outcome of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. The Platform aims at
accelerating the advancement of women in all spheres of society. All governments have together with the civil society,
private actors and international organizations the responsibility to deliver on the commitments and, inter alia, adopt National Action Plans for women’s advancement.
28
The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA)
The Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) is a new ministry in
the Afghan Government installation and was established in 2001 on an
existing organization, the Women’s General Council, which was established in 1978. The Council was mostly delivering vocational training for
women. MoWA is unfortunately experiencing a low level of domestic
support and is reliant on international support from donors. This is not
least apparent by the fact that the Parliament has tried on several occasions to close the ministry down. On all occasions, the international
community has put pressure on the Government to refrain from such
actions.
One of the main challenges for MoWA is to improve its institutional,
regulatory and human capacity, which is reported to be low. Interlocutors that were interviewed by the Mission stated that the low capacity is
due to a low starting point and a high turnover in personnel, partially
because some staff members at MoWA are attracted by better-paid and
more prestigious positions at international or donor organizations. There
has also been a high turnover among the leadership of MoWA which is
illustrated not least by the fact that there has been five different ministers
in the last four years. These challenges have been even more demanding
when taking into consideration the lack of leadership from the collective
Government in promoting gender equality and women’s rights. MoWA
has considerable difficulties in persuading line ministries to take more
responsibility for promoting gender equality. There is a strong resistance
from many institutions towards engaging in mainstreaming gender and
one interlocutor even stated to the Mission that: “MoWA has been
instructed not to rock the boat and keep the status quo”.
MoWA is represented by DoWAs in provinces (Department for
Women’s Affairs) which are regional branches of the Ministry. Under the
umbrella of these DoWAs are internationally supported Women’s Development Centres (WDC). These centres are mainly implementing projects
(on health, education, employment etc.) while DoWAs are more policy
and capacity building-orientated and also function as referral centres for
women to shelters and other direct service providers.
UNIFEM is a key partner of MoWA. The UN agency stated to the
Mission that it has a limited capacity to support all MoWA’s departments
with a total staff of about 900 and therefore is concentrating its support
to the Planning Department. Other donors like USAID (through ASIA
Foundation), UNDP, WHO and JICA are also supporting MoWA.
There are also donors who support projects directly through DoWAs but
most donor attention has been given to central initiatives through
MoWA.
Civil Service
The gender balance in the Government has improved since the fall of the
Taliban, from a situation when women were in practice totally excluded
from holding public office. Today, women make up approximately 19%
of the total civil service.32 The goal in terms of a gender-balanced civil
service is to increase the number of women in the civil service to 30% by
2010 (MDG and Afghanistan Compact). As for the local Government,
there is a five-year Presidential Strategy for the civil service on the
regional level that is implemented by the Independent Directorate of
Local Governance (IDLG) and that states that “by the end of 2013, a
32
Civil Service Commission, 2008.
29
transparent and gender-sensitive national appointment mechanism will
be fully implemented for all appointments…”.
As in most countries around the world there is noticeable horizontal
and vertical gender segregation. The horizontal segregation is apparent
when comparing the different ministries in terms of gender balance. The
highest female participation is, not surprising, in MoWA where 67% of
the civil servants are women. The only other ministry with a female
majority of civil servants is the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs,
Martyrs and Disabled. Approximately half of the ministries have less
than 10% female staff members.
Table 9: Regular Government employees by ministries and departments, excluding
police and armed personnel, 2006
Ministries and departments
Female,%
Male,%
Ministry of Women’s Affairs
67
33
Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Martyrs
56
44
and Disabled
Ministry of Education
25
75
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
4
96
Ministry of Counter Narcotics
3
97
Ministry of Interior Affairs
2
98
Total
22
78
The table presents the three ministries with the highest and lowest female representation.
Source: Afghan Statistical Yearbook, 2007
Vertically, women predominantly hold clerical positions; 49%33 of all
civil servants in clerical positions are women. In managerial positions,
grade 2 and above, men are predominant with an overwhelming 91%34.
A number of line ministries have established Gender Units (GU),
which are support centres for gender mainstreaming within the respective ministries. The GUs are supported by GTZ and MoWA with technical assistance and capacity building. The GUs are still too weak, however, to have any real impact on the civil service. The policy and
coordination authority for the civil service is the Civil Service Commission (CSC), which has employed gender advisor who is seconded by the
UNIFEM.
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC)
was established pursuant to the Bonn Agreement in December 2001.
The AIHRC is meant to be independent even though the Afghan President appoints the High Commissioner and its budget is processed by the
Cabinet. But, as the Commissioner for Women’s Rights stated to the Mission, 90% of the budget comes from foreign donors and the Afghan
Government is formally not allowed to criticize AIHRC’s reports. There
are nine Commissioners in the AIHRC, of which one focuses on women’s rights. Apart from monitoring and reporting, the Commission is also
reviewing individual complaints and providing training on human rights
issues.
33
Civil Service Commission, 2008.
34
MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.
30
Donor Community and Coordination
There is a donor coordination group for gender issues which is convening
monthly. Most donors are represented at the meetings but interlocutors
that the Mission met said that the representatives are often junior and
not in decision-making positions in their respective organization or
embassy. The meetings are meant for information-sharing but also for
coordinating communication with the Government. Communication
with the Government should take place in consultative group meetings
between the international community and the Government, which then
should feed into the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board mechanism. However, these meetings on gender and human rights have not
taken place for some time and the UN Special Representative to Afghanistan is currently reviewing the mechanisms for consultation to find ways
for making improvements.
31
4. Overall Economic
Situation
Macro-economic Situation
Afghanistan has experienced considerable economic growth since 2001,
largely driven by good harvests and foreign investments in reconstruction
and development. Opium poppy production has also contributed to
growth. GDP growth in 2002 was nearly 29% and has slowed down to a
more moderate growth of 5.3% in 2006. This growth is however neither
sustainable nor healthy and is largely explained by the extremely low GDP
during the civil war, massive foreign assistance in recent years and the
illegal opium economy.35 The real GDP is estimated by the IMF to be
USD 8.6 billion for 2008 and is expected to fall to USD 8.4 billion in
2009. 2009 will most likely be the first year after the NATO-led invasion
in 2001 with a regression.36
The Government has issued a number of policies and programmes to
stimulate a domestically driven private sector growth. Some of the key
reform areas are mapped out in the Afghanistan National Development
Strategy (ANDS) and include reconstruction of infrastructure, legal and
regulatory reforms and an enabling private sector environment. There
are considerable challenges to implement these reforms mainly because
of the security situation. Some areas have however shown impressive
achievements lately as for example the expansion of mobile telecommunications. The ANDS recognizes the importance of increasing gender
equality to stimulate economic growth. Women’s increased access to
markets in combination with better health and education should lead to
higher productivity and earnings which should in turn reduce poverty
and lead to economic growth.
Inflation in Afghanistan has for the last three years (2006–2008) been
steady at around 16%.37 The inflation is estimated to be continuously high
and consumer prices are expected to drop. Consumer prices are estimated
at 19.622 for 2008 and 9.200 for 2009.38 Afghanistan is experiencing a
severe imbalance in foreign exchange. In 2005 the export amounted to
USD 755 billion while the import was USD 3,280 billion, which in turn
resulted in a negative balance of payments and increased foreign debts.
Opium production is however not included in these figures and is a multi
35
World Bank, 2008.
36
IMF, World Economic Outlook 2008.
37
IndexMundi, 2008.
38
IMF, World Economic Outlook 2008.
32
billion-dollar export commodity. Public expenditure on health in 2004
was only 0.07% of GDP while private spending was 3.07%. As around
40% of all health facilities lack female medical staff, women has less
access to the services which are financed by the state and families themselves.39 Military expenses amounted in 2005 to 9% of GDP.40
Agriculture accounts for 52% of the GDP and products include
wheat, corn, barley, rice, cotton, fruit, nuts, karakul pelts, wool and
mutton. The industry contributes an estimated 26% of the GDP and
products are small-scale production for domestic use of textiles, soap,
furniture, shoes, fertilizer, and cement; hand-woven carpets for export;
natural gas, precious and semiprecious gemstones.41
39
World Bank, 2008.
40
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
41
U.S. Department of State, 2008.
33
5. Socio-economic
Situation
Human Development, Gender Development and Empowerment
In terms of human development Afghanistan is one of the least developed
countries in the world. The country scored 0.346 in 2007 on the UN Human Development Index (HDI) which placed Afghanistan fourth from
the bottom on the HDI-ranking. All countries that ranked below Afghanistan were African sub-Saharan countries (Burkina Faso, Mali,
Sierra Leone and Niger). But however difficult the situation was in 2007,
two human development indicators had nevertheless improved since
2001 due to economic growth and the “back-to-school campaign”. The
latter initiative has improved the situation for women and girls as their
attendance at schools and higher education was practically non-existent
during the Taliban rule and was also considerably limited before the
Taliban, particularly in rural areas.
The GDP per capita was USD 1,490 in 2007 and has more than
doubled since 2002 when it was only USD 683.42 The gross enrolment
ratio has risen to approximately 60% of school-aged children. However,
the number of girls attending school is still considerable lower than boys
at 30%.43 Life expectancy at birth has been relatively steady in the last
couple of years; for men 44.04 years and for women 44.39 years.44 The
biological gender difference in life expectancy is not present in Afghanistan, mainly because of a dire health situation for women, especially in
terms of reproductive health and lack of accessible health services for
women, but also because cultural constraints where women’s health is
considered less important than men’s. Gender-based violence is also a
factor when considering the low life expectancy of women but there is no
reliable data on the impact of gender-based violence on women’s life
expectancy. The conflict also has an impact on the life expectancy,
particularly men’s life expectancy, partly because traditional patriarchal
norms are obliging women and girls to stay closer to their homes45 and
partly because men have been more frequently involved as soldiers and
insurgents in the armed conflict.
The Human Poverty Index (HPI) also places Afghanistan as among
the most impoverished nations on earth. The probability of surviving the
42
IMF, 2008.
43
UNICEF, 2008.
44
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
45
This is, inter alia, having relevance for who become victims of land mines. Roughly 90% of land-mine victims are male.
34
age of 40 is 0.419 and adult literacy stands at 43% while literacy for women is as low as 14%.46 Approximately 68% of the population lacks access
to water and 50% of children under five are underweight.47 The Gender
Development Index (GDI) is 0.310, which means that only Niger ranks
lower in the world. Women’s lack of access to education, employment and
health care are the main reasons behind the dire GDI. The Gender
Empowerment Measurement (GEM) has not been calculated for Afghanistan because of a lack of data.48
Employment
The unemployment rate in 2005 was estimated at 8% of the labour force
and the female unemployment rate was 125% of the male unemployment
rate during the same year.49 Approximately 67% of the work force was
employed in agriculture in 2003.50 Women play an important role in
agricultural production including opium production. In some regions
women’s time spent equals men’s time spent in the agricultural sector.
The total participation of women (older than 15) in the labour force has
been estimated by the WB to be 36%. Women are mainly involved in
non-monetized labour in the agricultural sector and contribute in the
growing and marketing of dried fruits, opium, fuel wood, dairy products
and handicrafts.51 The level of women’s employment in the non-agricultural sector is considerably lower and is mainly noticeable in the health
and educational sector. The percentage of female civil servants in the
educational sector was in 2007 approximately 22%.52 Women’s wages in
agriculture are considerably lower than men’s. The NRVA found in 2003
that the wage ratio were 51% for planting, 61% for harvesting and 50%
for other farm work. The earnings for paid work were in 2007 estimated
to USD 478 for females and USD 1,428 for males.53 Women also make a
considerable contribution through unpaid work. A number of geographically limited surveys have been conducted that indicate gender specifics
in domestic work. One survey from the Badakhshan province indicated
that women carried out 37% of household work, men 15%, girls 27% and
boys 21%.54 This survey is however limited in scope and the findings
might not be representative in other parts of Afghanistan. Child labour is
high in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, in 2007 nearly a quarter of
the children between 7 and 14 were working. The number of girls working is reported by UNICEF to be even higher. According to the Centre
for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), 94.4% of all business in
Afghanistan in 2004 were run by men.
Demographics
The population of Afghanistan is ethnically and linguistically mixed,
with the Pashtun population being the largest ethnic group. It is estimated that approximately 42% of the population are Pashtun, 27% Tajik,
9% Hazara, 9% Uzbek, 4% Aimak, 3% Turkmen, 2% Balosh and then a
number of minorities with a population of less than 4%. Most Afghans
46
MISC, 2003.
47
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
48
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
49
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
50
World Bank, 2007.
51
World Bank, 2005.
52
CSO, Statistical Yearbook, 2007.
53
UNDP, NHDR, 2007.
54
World Bank, 2005.
35
are Sunni Muslim (80%,) while 19% are Shia Muslim and approximately
1% have another denomination. The ethnic and religious fabric of
Afghanistan is an important factor when analysing the gender situation
in the country. Gender norms and roles differ between ethnic groups,
religious denominations and social classes. As mentioned above these
differences are far too many and complex to cover in this context.
The population is estimated at between 30 and 35 million in 2008.
There is, however, a great deal of uncertainty about the size of the population as there are weak population registration systems in place in Afghanistan. The population growth is estimated at 2.6% in 2008; according to
estimations by the UNDP the growth will continue to increase and reach
3.05% in 2015. The fertility rate is 6.58 children born per woman. The
rate was as high as 8.0 in 1990. The fertility rate is high in all provinces,
ranging from 5 to 8 live births per woman.55 The high fertility rate contributes to several development problems for Afghanistan. With the low life
expectancy, the population has become extremely young. It was estimated
in 2005 that 47% of the population was under 15.56 The high fertility rate
prevents women from taking part in education, productive work, community work as well as leisure activities. Also, the young population combined
with the poverty forces children to be engaged in different forms of labour
at a higher rate than would be the case with an older population. The use
of contraceptives has increased in recent years to 10%.57 At the beginning
of the 1970s, it was approximately 2%.58 Infant mortality is estimated at
154.67 deaths/1,000 live births.59 Maternal mortality is the second-highest
in the world (Sierra Leone is the highest) with 1,600 deaths per 100,000
live births.60 There are large differences between urban and rural areas. In
one of the most rural areas in Badakhstan (Ragh District), the maternal
mortality was in 2006 estimated by UNICEF as high as 6,500 while more
moderate 400 deaths per 100,000 live births in urban Kabul. Perinatal
conditions were in 2002 the number one cause of death, contributing to
nearly 13% of all deaths.61
Health
The health situation is extremely challenging in Afghanistan, especially
for women and children. As mention above, maternal and infant mortality is among the highest in the world. Mortal diseases that contribute to
the low life expectancy include cholera, malaria, pulmonary tuberculosis
and measles. UNICEF has supported the national programme of immunization and it is estimated that approximately 73% of one-year-olds are
fully immunized against tuberculosis and 64% against measles.62 The
majority of deliveries are carried out in the home without trained personnel. Trained personnel attended only about 14% of deliveries in 2003.63
55
UNICEF, 2008.
56
UNICEF, 2008.
57
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
58
World Bank, 2005.
59
U.S. Department of State, 2008.
60
MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.
61
World Health Organization, 2008.
62
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
63
World Health Organization, 2008.
36
In 2007 there were 514 government-employed midwives.64 The number
of physicians per 10,000 population was estimated in 2005 to be 2.0, of
which about 22% were women65 and the number of female health care
workers is 49.3% of all health care workers.66 The Taliban demanded
that women and men should be treated in separate medical facilities.
Most Afghans today accept combined facilities but demand that female
personnel should treat women. Many medical facilities lack female
medical staff despite a significant increase in female health workers since
the fall of the Taliban, through the Government-initiated Basic Package
of Health Services (BPHS).67 The lack of female staff has serious consequences for women’s health, as travelling long distances in Afghanistan is
difficult and because women are restricted in their freedom of movement
because of the security situation but also because of traditional norms.
The outreach of primary health care in rural areas is poor but has
improved since the launch of the BPHS. It is estimated that 82% of the
population has access to the Basic Package of Health Services.68
Education
The low level of education is a major challenge for Afghanistan. The
literacy rate is only 11% among women and 32% for men.69 The lowest
literacy rate are among the Kuchi nomads who in 2006 were reported to
have a literacy rate for 6 year-old and above of 4% for women and 8% for
men.70 The highest literacy rate is in Kabul where about 48% of women
and 66% of men are literate (over 6 years old).71 Nevertheless, primary
and secondary education has enrolled considerable more children since
2001 than during the Taliban. During the “back-to-school campaign”
after 2002, an estimated 3-4 million children were enrolled in primary
and secondary education.
Table 10: Number of girls and boys in primary and secondary education in
Afghanistan, 2005.
Grade
Girls
Boys
Total
No.
%
No.
%
1
346338
38.7
548256
61.3
894594
2
339101
38.9
532774
61.1
871875
3
334178
37.3
562797
62.7
896975
4
322098
35.6
582877
64.4
904975
5
113143
28.5
284409
71.5
397552
6
73947
25.7
214147
74.3
288094
7
50984
25.0
153254
75.0
204237
8
32915
26.3
104563
76.1
137478
9
29115
26.3
81749
73.7
110864
10
19502
23.9
62250
76.1
81752
11
10785
19.8
43682
80.2
54467
12
7762
20.6
30006
79.4
37771
Source: Ministry of Education, 2007
64
Ministry of Health, 2007.
65
WHO and Ministry of Health, 2008.
66
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
67
UNDP NHDR, 2007.
68
UNDP, NHDR, 2007.
69
NRVA, 2005.
70
NRVA, 2005.
71
Ministry of Education, 2007.
37
The distance of schools from home is important when attracting girls to
education since Purdah norms and the security situation often make it
impossible for girls to move longer distances from home. Girls are also
only allowed by most parents to attend schools with female teachers.
Often parents demand a separating wall around the schools with girl
students to protect them from insight. There is a serious lack of teachers,
especially female. UNICEF estimates that there is a shortage of 4050,000 teachers. Approximately 72% of teachers in 2007 were men and
there were large discrepancies between the provinces, with nine provinces having less than 10% female teachers.72 Families tend to prefer
boys’ education. One of the reasons for male preference is that males stay
in the family after marriage and contribute to the families’ income while
females join another family after marriage. Girls have a higher dropout
rate than boys, especially since many parents do not allow girls to attend
school after they reach puberty because of the increased risk for violent
attacks on girls and the fear that the girls will attract “improper attention” from men.
The Ministry of Education gives preference to female teachers in a
system of affirmative action. If no female or male teacher can be found,
Mullahs are often trained and employed as community teachers.73 There
are about 5,000 formal schools in Afghanistan and 3,700 communitybased schools. Foreign donors often support the latter. Teacher training is
extremely rudimentary in Afghanistan. Teachers are required to have 12
years of education and complete a teacher training (called TEP 1 and 2)
that normally lasts 13 days. Teachers without these qualifications are only
employed on temporary one-year contracts. To increase the outreach of
education, the Ministry of Education is implementing accelerated education which normally means that two classes are taught in one year.74
Politically motivated attacks on schools that enrol girls have become
more frequent. Attacks are particularly common in the southern and
eastern provinces. Between July 2005 and February 2007, a total 192
schools were attacked, looted, burnt down or destroyed.75 Interlocutors
that the Mission met said that the motives for attacks on schools were not
always connected with resisting girls’ education but were also attempts to
attract funds for new school premises. Attacks against schools and
against female students make parents afraid to send their daughters to
school and are thereby a barrier to girls’ education.
There are 19 institutions of higher education in Afghanistan from
which approximately 7,000 students graduate annually. Approximately
23% of graduates are female.76 The proportion of women varies between
universities. The most balanced situation can be found at Badakhshan
University and Faryab University where about 50% of students are female.
At Paktia and Khost Universities there are no female students at all.77
72
Ministry of Education, 2007.
73
UNICEF stated to the Mission that an advantage with Mullah teachers is that even conservative families tend to allow
their daughters to be taught by a male Mullah.
74
UNICEF, 2008.
75
Ministry of Education, 2007.
76
MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.
77
MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.
38
HIV/AIDS
Reliable data on HIV prevalence in Afghanistan is sparse. UNAIDS and
WHO estimate that there could be between 1,000 and 2,000 Afghans
with HIV. Unsafe injection practices, drug trafficking and usage, unsafe
injection practices and blood transfusion are the main risk factors for the
spread of HIV. Recent studies have revealed that HIV prevalence among
IDUs in Kabul is three percent. So far 478 HIV positive cases have been
reported from different sources.78
78
MoWA and UNIFEM, 2008.
39
6. Socio-cultural
Situation
There are significant variations in the family structure between different
ethnic and tribal groups as well as between urban and rural families.
However, all groups are characterized by their patrilineal structure, low
instances of divorce and high birth rates. In Afghanistan patrilinearity79
is more important than economic and political divisions. There is a basic
acceptance of polygamy in the society but the frequency varies throughout the country. The Afghan constitution allows a man to have up to four
wives simultaneously. While certain conditions apply to multiple marriages, such as the equal treatment of spouses, these are not always
observed in practice. As the social prestige of a divorced woman is very
low, a woman is more likely to agree to be a second or third wife than a
divorcee, even if her husband treats her unfairly. There are also instances
when women are not opposing to be a second wife or that the husband
married a second wife as the women have wanted to work and another
women in the house would make their burden of household shores less
heavy.
Families in Afghanistan are either nuclear, extended, fraternal or
compound. Most families are nuclear and headed by a senior male.
Female-headed households are rare, but they have increased since the
conflict started in the 1970s as many women become war widows.
Women’s and girls’ influence in the families vary considerably. For
example a mother with many daughters and son-in-laws can have a
strong position, particularly over the lives of the younger women while a
girl who has come into the family as the result of an exchange for a debt
(Baadal) can be treated more or less like a slave.
79
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one’s father’s lineage; it generally involves the inheritance of property,
names or titles through the male line as well.
40
7. Media and IT
The position and importance of the media has to be understood in the
overall development context of Afghanistan. Because of illiteracy and
poor road infrastructure, printed media plays a limited role in Afghanistan and most Afghans receive their news from radio and, to a lesser
extent, from TV.80 Internet use in Afghanistan is marginal81 and mainly
benefits young and relatively well-off people in urban areas. There were
no gender-disaggregated statistics identified by the Mission on the use of
media and IT. There are few female journalists in Afghanistan. The
main reasons for the lack of female journalists are education and security. It is estimated that less than 5% of all journalists are women. The
number of female journalists varies, however, from province to province.
In Kabul it is estimated that as many as 20% of journalists are women.82
In 2007, MoWA reported that the number of female staff members in the
state media sector was 23.3%. There are fewer women in the private
media sector. The portrayal of men and women in the media is extremely stereotypical; i.e. women are targeted with programmes about recipes,
fashion, household matters, the raising of children and very seldom about
women as decision-makers in public or private affairs. Also, women are
often portrayed as victims of different forms of violence and abuse.
Female journalists face serious security threats because of their gender
and there are regular reports about assassinations of female journalists
which are believed to be connected with the gender of the journalist.
80
USAID, 2006.
81
580,000 Internet users as of March 2008; 1.8% of the population, according to International Telecommunication Union.
82
MoWA, 2008.
41
8. Conflict
Women and conflict has been receiving increased attention in the last
decade, particularly after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in 2000 and UN Security
Council Resolution 1820 with the same name in 2008. The Resolutions
call for attention to the consequences of war on women’s lives and the
importance of women’s place at the decision-making table and their
contribution to conflict prevention and conflict resolution. While Resolution 1325 and 1820 are not specifically referred to in key documents that
guide the reconstruction and peace-building process in Afghanistan,
their provisions are nevertheless echoed in many of these documents,
such as the Berlin Declaration83 and the Afghanistan Compact.
Afghanistan is a challenging environment for the implementation of
1325 and 1820 because of the historic oppression of women, violent wars
and the pervasive lack of security, which leave many Afghans – both men
and women – traumatised, and in need of psychosocial counselling.
While some awareness of 1325 and 1820 exists among the international
community in Afghanistan, coordination for the Resolution’s implementation is only just beginning. In order to effectively implement 1325 in
Afghanistan, all stakeholders will have to work clearly and explicitly
within its framework and ally this with strong political will from all
stakeholders.
Landmines have had a severe impact on the people of Afghanistan
since the start of the conflict; particularly men and boys. UN reports
suggest that approximately 90% of those who are either injured or killed
by landmines are male and almost half of them are under the age of 18.
The main reason that most of the landmine victims are young males is
that women and girls stay more close to their homes because of traditional patriarchal gender norms.
83
http://www.ag-afghanistan.de/berlindeclaration.pdf
42
9. Girl-children
Child labour is a serious problem in Afghanistan, not least because of the
young population; almost half the population being under 18 years of
age. Afghan law requires workers to be at least 15 years old, but there are
provisions for 13- and 14-year-olds to work as apprentices, provided they
only work 35 hours per week. According to UNICEF estimates, at least
20 percent of primary school age children undertake some form of work
and there are more than one million child labourers under the age 14.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated in 2002 that
23.8 percent of children ages 10 to 14 years in Afghanistan were working.
Children are predominantly being involved in shop-keeping, workshops,
street retailing, tailoring, farming, carpet weaving and household work.84
Girls are particularly vulnerable since they drop out of school earlier
than boys, are forced into early marriages and are often recruited into
labour by their families and mostly as free labour force inside the families. A survey by AIHRC in 2006 revealed that household work impedes
access to school more than employment outside the household and thus
makes girls more vulnerable. Child labour has a serious impact on access
to education and it is estimated that around 3 million children in Afghanistan are being denied education as a direct consequence of child
labour.85
A girl is considered to be a woman once she is married despite her
actual age. As a consequence, – who are married are according to
Afghan custom regarded as women. The civil law sets the minimum
marrying age for females at 16, but it permits a father to give his daughter in marriage at 15 if he chooses. MoWA and UNICEF estimate
60–80% of all marriages to be forced marriages. According to the
UNICEF, 57 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the
legal age of 16. The vast majority of Afghans do not officially register
their marriages. To counter this, MoWA has launched a marriage
registration awareness campaign to boost the number of legally registered couples.
84
AIHRC, 2006.
85
Policyinnovation.org, 2008.
43
10. Resources and
Further Readings
AIHRC, Annual report, Kabul 2007
Afghan Women’s Network, Report of the NGOs regarding the implementation on
CEDAW in Afghanistan, Kabul 2007
AREU, Afghanistan’s health system since 2001, briefing paper, Kabul 2006
AREU, Moving to the mainstream: Integrating gender in Afghanistan’s national
policy, working paper, Kabul 2008
AREU, Looking beyond the school walls: Household decision-making and school
enrolment in Afghanistan, Kabul 2006
AREU, A place at the table, Afghan women, men and decision-making authority,
Kabul 2005
Global Rights, Living with violence: A national report on domestic abuse in
Afghanistan, Kabul 2008
ICG, Afghanistan: Women and reconstruction, Brussels and Kabul 2003
IMF, World Economic Outlook, 2008
IndexMundi, http://www.indexmundi.com/afghanistan/, 2008
MoWA and UNIFEM, Women and men in Afghanistan, baseline statistics on
gender, Kabul 2008
Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MISC) for Afghanistan, 2003
National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment, 2005
Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Human Rights in Afghanistan
(Swedish report), Stockholm 2007
UNDP, Afghanistan Human Development Report, Kabul 2007
UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/afghanistan_statistics.
html, 2008.
U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5380.htm,
2008
U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Person report and IOM Trafficking in Persons report, 2008
WB, National reconstruction and poverty reduction – the role of women
in Afghanistan’s future, Washington and Kabul 2005
WB, http://go.worldbank.org/EFM25VVX70, 2008
World Food Programme, http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=004, 2008
44
Annex 1: Gender
Specifics of the
Afghan Constitution
Gender Related Provisions in the 2004 Afghan Constitution
Article
Text
Gender issue
3
“No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of
The Supreme Court (Article 121) has the right to
the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan.”
review whether any law is in contradiction with the
Shar’ia. This is a serious limitation on positive
statutory law and raises concerns on how the
Supreme Court and lower courts interpret the Shar’ia,
particularly when it comes to gender equality.
22
“Any kind of discrimination and distinction between
Article 22 stands in contradiction with how the
citizens of Afghanistan shall be forbidden. The
Government interprets the Shar’ia. For example, the
citizens of Afghanistan, man and woman, have equal
new Family Code, which is currently being drafted, is
rights and duties before the law.”
establishing inheritance rights according to Shar’ia,
which is, typically, directly discriminating against
women and girls. According to the Governments
interpretation of the Shar’ia, daughters inherit half of
what sons inherit and widows inherit 1/8 from the
husband.
44
“The state shall devise and implement effective
The de facto situation is that Government pro-
programs to create and foster balanced education for
grammes support gender-segregated education
women, improve education of nomads as well as elimi-
where education is still more accessible for boys.
nate illiteracy in the country.”
Cultural stereotypes, family poverty and security are
impediments that hinder girls’ and women’s access to
education. The Kuchi nomads are the least educated
in the country with a literacy rate for those aged 6
and above is 4% for women and 8% for men
45
“The state shall devise and implement a unified
The curricula have to be based on Islam and adapted
educational curricula based on the tenets of the
to the different Islamic sects of Afghanistan. In
sacred religion of Islam, national culture as well as
practice this statute will easily encourage religious
academic principles, and develop religious subjects
stereotypes about gender and the roles of women
curricula for schools on the basis of existing Islamic
and men.
sects in Afghanistan.”
53
“The state shall guarantee the rights of pensioners,
and shall render necessary aid to the elderly, women
without caretaker, the disabled as well as poor
orphans, in accordance with provisions of the law.”
45
54
“Family is the fundamental pillar of the society, and
This provision reinforces the family as a fundamental
shall be protected by the state. The state shall adopt
pillar of the society in which Purdah and Namus norms
necessary measures to safeguard the physical and
are central.
spiritual health of the family, especially of the child
and mother, upbringing of children, as well as the
elimination of related traditions contrary to the
principles of the sacred religion of Islam.”
58
“To monitor respect for human rights in Afghanistan
See more above on AIHRC.
as well as to foster and protect it, the state shall
establish the Independent Human Rights Commission
of Afghanistan. Every individual shall complain to this
Commission about the violation of personal human
rights. The Commission shall refer human rights
violations of individuals to legal authorities and assist
them in the defence of their rights.”
83
“The elections law shall adopt measures to attain,
At least 68 delegates (two from each province) must
through the electorate system, general and fair
be women.
representation for all the people of the country, and
proportionate to the population of every province. On
average, at least two females shall be the elected
members of the House of People from each province.”
84
“Members of the House of Elders shall be elected and
There are 420 seats in the provincial council of which
appointed as follows: (…) 3) The remaining one third
124 are earmarked for women. However, there were
of the members shall be appointed by the President,
not enough women candidates in the 2005 election to
for a five year term, from amongst experts and
fill the 124 seat and thus there are three vacant seats
experienced personalities, including two members
despite the fact that a woman candidating for that
from amongst the impaired and handicapped, as well
seat would automatically be eligible for a seat.
as two from nomads. The President shall appoint fifty
percent of these individuals from amongst women.”
121
“At the request of the Government, or courts, the
The Supreme Court has the right to review whether
Supreme Court shall review the laws, legislative
any law is in contradiction with the Shar’ia. Read this
decrees, international treaties as well as international
Article together with Article 3.
covenants for their compliance with the Constitution
and their interpretation in accordance with the law.”
130
“If there is no provision in the Constitution or other
The Hanafi school is the oldest of the four schools of
laws about a case, the courts shall, in pursuance of
thought (Madhhabs) or jurisprudence (Fiqh) in Sunni
Hanafi jurisprudence, and, within the limits set by this
Islam.
Constitution, rule in a way that safeguards justice in
the best manner.”
131
“The courts shall apply the Shia jurisprudence in
The new Family Code is being drafted in two varia-
cases involving personal matters of followers of the
tions: one for Sunni and one for Shia Muslims. The
Shia sect in accordance with the provisions of the law.
legal age of marriage is lower in the Shia version (13
In other cases, if no clarification in this Constitution
years for Shia girls and 16 for Sunni girls).
and other laws exist, the courts shall rule according
to laws of this sect.”
46
Annex 2: Sida Generic
Terms of Reference
Generic Terms of Reference for Country Gender Profiles
These generic terms of reference for Country Gender Profi les are intended to guide the development of Profi les in specific countries. More
context-specific terms of reference need to be developed for some countries which take into account the specific problems, potentials and
processes of change in that particular context, need to be developed for
some countries.
These generic terms of reference should provide information on
background purpose, scope, methodology, choice of consultants and
dissemination in relation to the production of SidasSida’s Country
Gender Profi les.
1.
Background and Overall Framework
The Country Gender Profile aims to facilitate the development of knowledge on gender
equality in partner countries which should facilitate the implementation of the overall
objectives of Sida.
During the 1990s Profi les on the gender equality situation were prepared
by Sida in many of Sida’s partner countries. The purpose of these, so
called, Country Gender Profi les (CGP) was to provide a short and concise
summary of the gender equality situation in partner countries, which
could be utilized as the basis for development of country strategies,
development of projects and programmes and policy dialogue at different
levels. In most countries there is wealth of information available on gender
equality but it is not always compiled and sometimes difficult to access.
Therefore experts are required to compile and analyse this information.
Developments which have taken place during the 1990s and the
beginning of 2000 makes it necessary to update and revise the existing
Profi les, and for the countries that does not have Profi les already new
ones needs to be produced. For example the impact of the increased
attention to gender equality within areas such as sexual and reproductive
rights, violence against women and gender based violence, girl’’s education, human rights, and conflict needs to be better investigated and
further understood. The increased knowledge of, and attention to, the
linkages between gender equality and growth should also be further
taken into account in SidasSida’s Country Gender Profi les, as well as the
increasing focus on gender stereotypes in efforts to promote gender
equality. Another area with increasing problems and needs is the area of
gender- based violence, both at societal level and at the domestic level.
47
Since women and men are not homogenous groups it is important to
consider other socio-cultural criteria (or intersectionality) such as power
structures linked to ethnicity, race, class, sexual orientation and age. The
document should highlight the inter-related causal factors which contribute to the present situation while providing an analysis of the trends and
forces contributing to ongoing changes.
Furthermore the Profi les needs to take the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender) aspects into consideration, highlighting the
specific problems and constraints (as well as opportunities) that face
people who does not conform to the hetronormative norms and values
that often structure societies.
International and national frameworks and steering document
It is still a priority for Sida to give special attention to the implementation
of the Platform for Action and Beijing Declaration 86 from the Fourth World
Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. This international
platform for promoting gender equality was endorsed by 189 member
countries of the UN including many of SidasSida’s partner countries.
Attention should be given to the 12 Critical Areas of Concern identified
in the Platform for Action; poverty, education, health, violence, armed
conflict, economy, power and decision-making, human rights, media,
environment, girl-child as well as institutional mechanisms. In the
follow- up conference to the Beijing Conference (in 2000 and 2005)
countries have been required by the General Assembly and the international community to follow up their national plans of action in line with
the Beijing Platform for Action. Since these plans should be the basis of the
collaboration between Sida and partner countries on promoting gender
equality, there is a need for information on the priorities and initiatives
included in these plans of, in the Profi les.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) should also be an instrument in the dialogue between development cooperation agencies such as Sida, and their partner countries.
Therefore knowledge on the ratification and follow-up of, reservations to
and implementation of CEDAW by partner countries needs to be further
outlined and analysed by the Profi les. The national reports that every
country should produce (with a four- year interval) is also a very useful
input to the Profi les.
The national priorities of partner countries should be the focus and
outline the framework, of the Profi le. These will vary from country to
country and between regions. This meansimplies that the Profi les will
differ in issues and areas, although the basic structure of these documents
should be the same (see division of chapters below). National and regional policies, strategies, institutional mechanisms, national machineries and
NGOs as well as other resources and partners of the society, such as
research groups, should therefore be used in the mapping and collection
of data and information.
SidasSida’s revised policy Promoting Gender Equality in Development
Cooperation (October, 2005) hastakes its starting point in the overall goal of
poverty reduction, its perspectives and (eight) central component elements of the Swedish Development Policy (Government Bill
2002/03:122). These areas together with the overall goal of poverty
reduction should form thebe used as starting points for the Profi les.
The increased focus ofin the Swedish Development framework on the
86
Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration, Department of Public Information, United Nations, 1995
48
overall goal of poverty reduction and the two perspectives:; the perspective of the poor, and the rights perspective, areis also in need of better
understanding and further study.87
2.
Purpose of the Gender Profile
The Country Gender Profi les should facilitate development of genderaware country strategies, programmes and projects, as well as be a
relevant party to the dialogue. By providing brief but comprehensive
information on the comparative situation and status of women and men,
girls and boys, with particular reference to poverty and other economic,
political, legal, socio-economic and socio-cultural factors.
Country Gender Profi les should be useful instruments in briefing
theof consultants undertaking assignments in SidasSida’s partner countries as well as when briefing of Sida personnel. In the past SidasSida’s
Country Gender Profi les have also been found very useful by partner
countries and other international actors, not least because they are, and
should be, short and concise.
The Country Gender Profi les should not describe SidasSida’s policies
or programmes. The nature and size of these profi les also prohibits more
detailed attention to the sector areas in which Sida is involved. The
profi les aim to provide an overall background on the gender equality
situation in the specific country. Detailed analysis of SidasSida’s work,
and recommendation to Sida, should be done in other contexts.
3.
Country Gender Profile Outline
Outline of content – chapters one by one!
The following chapters and content should take the overall framework,
outlined above, into consideration.
1) National framework and policy
National policies, strategies (including sector-specific strategies) and
mechanisms for promoting gender equality, including the specific
plans for the implementation of the Platform for Action should be
included in the analyse. In addition information should be provided
on the priorities and initiatives of NGOs, civil society, women’s
organizations and networks, men’s groups, academia, media groups,
etc. should be provided. Information should be included on the
capacity of these national actors to work with a gender equality
perspective and opportunities for competence development should be
included.
2) Overall economic situation
Economic policies and reforms – including debt, balance of payment,
inflation, public revenue, public expenditures (and reviews), public
investment, production (tradables and untradeables), social sector
spending, user charges policy, welfare subsidies, employment and
labour in both the formal and informal sectors, trade unions. And as
far as possible gender-specific impact of macro-level policy on microlevel should be highlighted as far as possible.
3) Socio-economic situation
General poverty situation, income distribution, livelihoods, food
security, demographic situation, provision and access to/use of services and resources, water, forestry, infrastructure, health (including
HIV/AIDS), LGBT issues, education, disability, human settlements,
87
“Shared Responsibility-Sweden’s policy for Global Development”, Government Bill 2002/03:122; “Perspectives on Poverty”, Sida, October 2002.
49
urbanization, informal sector, information, energy, communications,
land and other resources, environment.
4) Socio-cultural situation
Ethnic and racial groups, family structure (including female-headed
households), LGBT issues, children (with a focus on girl children),
youth, migration, traditional customs and laws (including where
relevant female genital mutilation where relevant).
5 Legal situation and human rights
Relevant areas to be included in this section are inheritance, land
tenure, housing rights, family law, labour laws, gender based violence,
customary vs. civil laws, CEDAW, sexual orientation and LGBT
issues. The presentation should focus on legislation, law enforcements,
access to justice, and administration of the law and legal literacy.
6) Political situation
Areas that requireto further analysise here are the constitution,
parliament (representation and participation), political parties, gGovernment, elections (participation and representation), representation
and participation at other levels – regional/provincial, district and
local gGovernment levels.
7) Media and IT
Freedom of expression, representation and participation in media
(including management levels), gender images in media, access to,
utilization and control of IT and modern communication methods.
8 Conflict
Where relevant, gender-specific information on causes, prevention,
resolution, and rehabilitation.
9) Girl children
Information on the specific constraints and problems faced by girl
children.
10) Key problems and opportunities
This section should identify specific areas of concern and constraints
and areas where there is potential for moving forward.
11) Resources and further reading
In this last final chapter the Profi le should outline the resources that
has been used and analysed in its production as well as outline research, literature, books and other sources of information available on
the country within the area of gender equality.
4.
Methodology
The profi les should be prepared as desk-studies by consultants. No new
research is involved in the development of the profi les. They should build
entirely on existing materials and interviews with key actors in ministries. NGOs, civil society organizations, etc. The profi les can point to the
need for further research in strategic areas. (see above chapter 10. Key
problems and opportunities)
The profi les should be no longer than 40 pages. Additional information can be provided in annexes, such as sgenderex-disaggregated statistics, reading lists, etc.
Particular attention should be given to providing sexgender-disaggregated statistics in all areas covered. Where such disaggregated statistics is
not available this should be clearly pointed out.
Information should be obtained from Government ministries, parliament, political parties, NGOs, civil society organizations, women’s
groups and networks, men’s groups (where relevant), academic institu50
tions and groups, statistical offices, private sector, including law firms,
etc.etc, donors and other international organizations.
5.
Choice of Consultants
Preferably a team88 of consultants could be utilized for the Profi le as it is
strategic to engage local consultants together with an external consultant
to complement each other. Where the local resource base is weak it is
suggested that an external consultant with good knowledge of the country should be teamed with external.
This supports local capacity- development while at the same time
ensuring adequate access to local knowledge and networks. Since the
production of Country Gender Profi les requires the coverage of a broad
range of issues it is not always possible to find one consultant with expertise in all the required areas required.
An organisation could also be used for the purpose of producing the
Profi le.
It is recommended, but not demanded, that a reference group of local
experts be set up to review the draft produced. It is also recommended
that the embassy staff is actively involved in the review process to ensure
maximum effect of the process.
6.
Dissemination and Further Development
The Country Gender Profi les should be disseminated both within the
country and in Stockholm. Seminars can be organized at embassy level
for embassy personnel, consultants and other partners, using the consultants involved or other local experts as resource persons. Regional Departments within Sida should be responsible for dissemination of the
profi les to relevant consultants. The prime focus for the Profi les should
be as instruments to the production and outline of SidasSida’s Country
Cooperation strategy in order to ensure the mainstreaming of gender
equality.
88
The team could consist of two members only. T, the key is to have one local and one external consultant active in producing the Profile.
51
Annex 3: Meeting
Schedule for the
Mission to Afghanistan
Name/ Organisation
Saturday
Arrival of Mr. Per Larsson and Ms. Anita Klum
23 August
at 10 am to Kabul
Contact/ Address
Anita
Per
Klum
Larsson
Arrival
Arrival
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Sunday
24 August
Mette Sunnergren
Tel: +93 (0) 700 166 944
First Secretary, Development
+93 (0) 798 444 002
Embassy of Sweden
[email protected]
Section for Development Co-operation Kabul,
Afghanistan
14–14.30
Sara Rezogali
Italian Embassy
16.30
Vincent White
GTZ
Monday
25 August
9.00
Wazhma Frogh; Global Rights Afghanistan,
Kabul Office:Chaharohi
Country Director; [email protected];
Ansari, Street 3; #200- Op-
www.globalrights.org;
posite German Clinic;Shahre-
Cell: (+ 93) 0797-753-955
Now, Kabul.;Tel#
(+93) 070-269-035;Digital#
(+93) 020-220-37-67
11.00
Anders Fenge, Ahmed Farid, Swedish
Committee for Afghanistan
13.00
Fazel Jalil, Save the Children Sweden-Norway
H # 134, Charhai Shaheed,
Programme
close to British Cemetery,
Ms.Fawzia Habibi, MoWA
Ministry of Women’s Affairs,
Kabul.
15.00
798 152 471
17.00
52
Nabila Wafeq, Medica Mundial
Tuesday
26 August
10.00
Ermelita Valdeavilla, UNIFEM
13.00
Pernille Mortenssen, 1st Secretary, Danish
[email protected] Danish
x
x
x
Embassy Kabul
Embassy, Wazir Akbar Khan,
x
x
x
Carol le Duc, EU
x
x
10.00
Manizha Naderi, Women for Afghan Women
x
x
14.00
Calister Mtalo, UNICEF
x
x
15.00
Mette Sunnergren, Swedish Embassy
x
x
Friday
Departure of Mr. Per Larsson at 2 pm
Kabul MOBILE +93 797 888
103 PHONE +93 (0) 20 2300
968/WWW.AMBKABUL.UM.
DK/EN
Wednesday
27 August
13.00
Charlemagne Sophia Gomez (Gender and
Gender Mainstreaming
elections), UNDP, Rosanita Serrano Gender
Specialist United Nations
Project Manager; charlemagne.gomez@undp.
Development Programme
org; [email protected]
Kabul, Afghanistan Tel+ 93
(0) 20 212 4124 Mob +93 (0)
700 289 317
15.00
Thursday
28 August
x
29 August
09.00
Revolutionary Association of Women of
x
x
Afghanistan
13.00
Jean MacKenzie, International War and Peace
x
Reporting
Saturday
30 August
13.00
Soraya Sobhrang, AIHRC
x
Sunday
31 August
09.00
Paula Kantor, Reserach and Evaluation Team
0799608495 paula@areu.
x
12.30
Jamila Afghani, Noor education center
x
16.00
Mette Sunnergren, Swedish Embassy
x
Monday 1
Departure of Ms. Anita Klum at 2 pm
x
org.af
September
53
Sida works according to directives of the Swedish Parliament and Government to reduce poverty in the
world, a task that requires cooperation and persistence. Through development cooperation, Sweden
assists countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Each country is responsible for its own
development. Sida provides resources and develops knowledge, skills and expertise. This increases
the world’s prosperity.
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Phone: +46 (0)8 698 50 00
Fax: +46 (0)8 20 88 64
[email protected], www.sida.se