During the presidential campaign, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah made commitments to strengthen the political role of women in the country.
The question is, after one year, are active Afghan women satisfied with the performance of this government? During the presidential campaign, Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah made many commitments to strengthen the role of women at various levels, especially at the political level of society.
But now that a year has passed since the national unity government, have both politicians fulfilled their commitments? Female activists have a relatively positive opinion about one year of government functions. Soraya Sobhrang from the Women's Committee of the Afghanistan Human Rights Organization believes that the political will of the leaders of the Afghan government towards women's political participation and placing women in key positions is very strong and encouraging.
He says: "At first, we chose the number four and insisted on having, for example, four ministers, four deputy ministers and four ambassadors." But for now, the quantity is not very important for us. For now, it is important that women have assumed key positions in the selection committee, important positions in the presidential office and the executive directorate, in the foreign ministry, and the like, and especially young women have received this chance, and this is hopeful is a doer. Even Ghani and Abdullah have female advisers, which can be said to be unprecedented in the history of Afghanistan. One of the demands of women's organizations is to appoint a woman as a member of the Supreme Judicial Council. The President of Afghanistan accepted the women's request and nominated a woman to this position.
But in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan, strengthening the role of women in leadership levels is not an easy task. The appointment of two women as governors of Ghor and Daikundi provinces was not without problems. Also, Anisa Rasouli, who was a candidate for membership in the Supreme Judicial Council, did not receive a vote of confidence from the Afghan Wolesi Jirga. "Unfortunately, the president did not provide the necessary support and the necessary campaign to get the right vote in the parliament for Rasouli," says Mrs. Hourieh Mossadegh from Amnesty International.
However, Mr. President and Mr. Chief Executive in the positions that they are interested in, in the positions that they want, they campaign and meet with the members of the parliament and support the person that in many times Lawyers have no other option but to give the majority vote. "Unfortunately, in the case of Anisa Rasouli, we did not see such support from the president and the chief executive." In addition, it is considered that four women will be appointed in diplomatic missions of Afghanistan in other countries. Currently, only one of them has started its work.
But is quotas the right way to assign women to key positions, and wouldn't it be better if only people with work abilities were assigned to key positions, regardless of gender? Active women in Afghanistan now emphasize less on quantity, they want women to be appointed to key positions who have work capacity.
Dr. Alame, a member of the Electoral System Reform Commission and head of the Women's Political Committee, says: "Although people believe that women's positions are symbolic, my opinion is that if women are appointed to positions with capacity, they They can turn these symbolic posts into important managerial posts. "The issue of women's capacity is also raised here."
One of the other problems of Afghan women is the issue of violence, from domestic violence to Taliban field courts, and the most difficult thing is to track these violence. Mrs. Sobhrang rejected the issue of non-prosecution of violence against women and said: "According to the reports that we receive at the Human Rights Commission, there have been changes in cases dealing with violence against women, and such cases have been dealt with quite seriously. It takes place." He adds that both judicial and judicial bodies handle the cases well, and the media and women's organizations are active in this regard. According to the statistics of the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, 4259 cases of violence against women have been registered in the field offices of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission this year.
Dr. Alame also mentioned the efforts of women's organizations, but added that women who are subjected to violence do not get the necessary support.
In an interview with us, he said: "Women who suffer from violence remember cases like Setare and Ayesha. For example, there is no money for the treatment or surgery of the star's face.
Women who are victims of violence in the provinces, there is no money to transport them to the center and for their welfare. On the other hand, Afghan women are currently most worried about the fragile security situation in Afghanistan and the peace talks with the Taliban.
Afghan women, who were the number one victim during the Taliban rule, know their right to be involved in negotiations with the Taliban at different levels. "Unfortunately, the appointment of a few women in the High Peace Council or in the High Peace Councils at the provincial level cannot be responsible for women's participation in the peace process," says Horiye Mossadegh.
Ms. Mossadegh states various reasons in this regard: "Women are not involved in peace processes, women's presence is used more in a symbolic way than in reality, women's concerns are not reflected at all... and in the negotiations that "Women were present, they were not given the chance to express their opinions and exchange ideas with the Taliban.
Houria Mossadeq says that the Taliban are not the only threat to women, but there are also Hizb-e-Islami, Hizb Maulvi Khalis and a number of other armed rebel groups against the government that are not part of the peace process, but are considered a threat to women. Unemployment of educated young women and girls, especially in the provinces, is another problem for women. With all these women activists hope for a better future for women in Afghanistan.
Ms. Annie Muskani, the ambassador of Finland in Kabul, on behalf of ambassadors and representatives of international countries and organizations living in Kabul, called on the Afghan government to consider the issue of gender and equal rights.
Yousufi
