Any day now
Afghan women hope to use the momentum of international recognition to secure civil rights and a role in government.
By Janelle Brown
Dec. 3, 2001 | Suddenly, the face of Afghanistan is that of a woman. On the cover of Time magazine, she smiles hesitantly, without a veil; on CNN she is captured in her burqa, in the streets for the first time in years. Afghan women were the focus of a recent radio address by Laura Bush; they are the subject of Hillary Clinton's editorials in Time. They are visiting the White House, Capitol Hill and the State Department (again, at the invitation of the current and former First Ladies, who seem to be scuffling to be the Afghan women's biggest champion). And Tahmeena Faryal, a representative of Afghan feminist group RAWA, has been touring America for several weeks now: She has given 70 interviews and has turned down many other requests; her sold-out lectures at college campuses have nearly caused riots when audiences have exceeded the capacities of the venues.
The new visibility of and reverence for Afghan women has been heartening, if very belated: Feminist groups have been trying to publicize the Taliban's outrageous victimization of women for more than five years without much notice. And it has taken months for American political leaders, their eyes turned to Afghanistan, to speak publicly about the country's women. Nonetheless, no one is complaining. The feeling among weary, but inspired activists is: Better late than never.
In fact, the emergence of Afghan women as a political priority has come at a crucial moment. As the Taliban retreat and reconstruction talks begin, the issue of women's rights in Afghanistan hangs in the balance. If women are going to have civil rights, as well as a role in the new government, they need to be recognized as a priority. And increasingly, they are. As the U.N. and the U.S. begin the delicate process of overseeing political negotiation between feuding Afghan victors, women apparently are on the top of the agenda.
Just last week, delegates from four Afghan political factions met in Bonn, Germany, to discuss the interim government in Afghanistan, and women were included, although it was only a token presence: three delegates and two advisors. According to reports, though, all delegates agreed that a provisional national council should include women -- though the number of women remains to be seen.
And this week, the first Afghan Women's Summit is taking place in Brussels, Belgium, as women come together to address how to make their voices heard in discussions about the future balance of power in Afghanistan.
"We are encouraged by the meetings, but we know it's a long road," says Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority and a recent State Department consultant on Afghan women's issues, "I hope that hope drives a realistic solution and a democracy. I worry that opportunity will be lost and somehow a dictatorship will be established. But the women's movement will be working very hard."
In pushing for women's rights and participation in government, activists point out that women now make up 65 percent of the total population in Afghanistan, the result of years of war and the attendant decimation of the male population. Even if they cannot be granted 65 percent of the seats on a new national council, say the activists, that number suggests a significant presence on any governing body.
The Afghan women who emerge as politicians will not be unprepared to serve. Despite the fact that women were largely effaced from society by the Taliban, they have a history of political and professional involvement prior to that time. Women were first given the vote in 1964 in Afghanistan, and several women have served as government ministers. Until they were forbidden by the Taliban to work or go to school, women were well represented in the professional workforce: They made up 40 percent of the nation's doctors, and 70 percent of its teachers.
Today, many women best suited for roles in the government are currently in exile. Says Tahmeena Faryal of RAWA, "Most of them might not be in Afghanistan anymore; for years they have left to other countries like Iran, Pakistan and the U.S because of the domination of the Soviets and the fundamentalists. They need to go back to their country, and they want to go back."
