AFGHANISTAN:Women Pass a European Milestone

Feb 3, 2006 (IPS) - Between a conference on Afghanistan in Bonn four years back and the one in London this week, a good deal has changed for women in Afghanistan -- for Afghan women around capital Kabul anyway.

The Bonn conference had promised women rights; and it said something just that some Afghan women were here in London, in their capacity as elected members of parliament and even minister.

Afghanistan's minister for women's affairs Massouda Jalal was looking first at the half-full part of the glass, inevitably.
''Before the Bonn conference four years ago the situation of women was the worst in the world as they were not allowed to go to schools, to educational institutions, to move around alone and freely, to have any employment and income, and many things were forbidden for them,'' she told IPS in an interview.

Jalal was in London, like many Afghan women, to attend a donors' conference on Afghanistan and to attend a meeting called by a drugs policy think-tank, The Senlis Council. ''After the Bonn programme women started getting release from many pressures,'' Jalal said. ''The discriminatory laws went away, they started to go to school and college, they went back to work in government offices. And right now hundreds of women are running non-governmental organisations which were started by themselves.'' There are hundreds of new programmes focusing on improvement of women's lives, and this shows in the media now, she said. ''There are many programmes on radio focusing on women's rights, and we have new programmes supportive of women,'' she said.

A new role for women had meant 68 female parliamentarians in the lower house of parliament, which means 27 percent of the lower house. A sixth of the members of the upper house are also women.

''But still there are lots of problems when we think of the indicators of gender development,'' she said. On indicators such as achievement in education, and the standard of living, the position of Afghan women ''is still one of the worst in the world.''
Safia Sediqqi, a member of parliament from Nandahar province said becoming a member of parliament was a dream come true.

''It was one of my dreams to work in Afghanistan and for Afghan people for many years,'' she told IPS. ''My teen age and my young age was in war years. But fortunately now I can use my energy for my own people, for the men of Afghanistan, for the women of Afghanistan, for the children of Afghanistan, especially now that I'm representing the province.'' Relative to earlier years, the possibilities for women have grown dramatically, she said.

''The women are going to school, the women are going to offices, and they are teaching,'' she said. ''They have been working in the farms, and also there are now some very small health facilities for them.''

Gulalai Momand who represents The Senlis Council in Afghanistan said ''the fact that I'm talking to you, that's a huge change in itself. Some years back I couldn't even go outside my house.'' Improvement is visible in Kabul, she said. ''In terms of development, in terms of reconstruction, you see every day there are roads being constructed, there are buildings being constructed, but it is a very slow process.''

''But the main focus of development is central Afghanistan,'' she told IPS. ''It hasn't gone to the rural communities, it hasn't gone to the far provinces. We see development going on in Kabul or in central Afghanistan, and we assume that it is going on in those areas as well. It's not.''

It could get better for other women too, Seddiqi said. ''There are things we believe we can improve in the coming five years especially with the starting of the parliament in Afghanistan because we have people standing for the rights of people in different provinces, and we hope and we believe there will be improvement in the life of women in Afghanistan.''
But the improvement comes under a shadow of a growing strength of the Taliban again.

''I think there are some people who have an interest in their own world,'' Seddiqi said. ''Some people are helping the government and some are helping the Taliban and other political factions. But I think if they (the Taliban) are coming they are most welcome but the people of Afghanistan, they need peace, they need work, they need peace and security, and stability in Afghanistan.''

The Taliban cannot be wished away, she said. ''The Taliban are a part of the Afghan community and a part of Afghanistan, they can come with the Afghan people and they can live together with the other Afghan people, I think there will be no problem.''

From: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=32030