Election a Milestone for Women

On Saturday, millions of women across Afghanistan are due to vote in the country's first presidential election and by so doing, they will pass a significant milestone of emancipation.

Almost half of the 10.5 million people registered to vote - 41.3 per cent - are women. The 17 male and one female candidates are all facing the reality that gaining the women's vote is important for their success.

Mary Nabard Aayeen, a reporter for the government-run Bakhter news agency and founder of the woman's weekly magazine Seerat, Virtue, said, "After 25 years, women now have the right to actively participate in the affairs of this country.

"Women understand that they have a golden chance to vote and they understand that they are free to do that."

The election is providing the possibility for women - many of whom cannot show their face or speak to other men without the consent of their husbands - to help to decide the future shape of their country.

"They will be completely free to vote for whom they want," said Nasrine Abou-bakre Groos, head of social sciences at the Kabul's National Centre for Policy Research.

Still, many Afghan men expect women to vote according to their husbands’ or fathers’ wishes.

Zia Ahmad, from Jabal Saraj, near Kabul, said, "In our family, the man lays down the law. Whatever the man says women have to obey. I am telling my wife to vote for [former education minister Mohammad Younis] Kanooni."

Sahib Zada Agha, from the northern province of Faryab, said that women have the right to vote - but only for whom their husbands tell them.

Shukria Barekzai, head of the Asia Women Service Association and founder of the Aina-e-Zan weekly, Women's Mirror Weekly, estimated that "eighty per cent of women can freely vote. And the remaining 20 per cent may not because of pressure from their families”.

"There are three categories of women. First are those who have higher education; second those who have basic education; and third - which is the majority - are uneducated," she said.

But she added, "I don't believe that educated women will be treated like puppets. They will vote for a person, who really will render service to the nation."

One of the women free to have their say is Shafiqa, 35. "My husband is not narrow-minded. He is letting me vote for whomever I want - and I will vote for the one who feeds me," she said.

All the candidates’ policy programmes, aired on radio and television or published in print, contain promises specifically aimed at women.

Even Abdul Hafiz Mansoor - a conservative and member of the Shora-e-Nezar section of the Jamiat-e-Islami faction, and the former head of Afghan radio and television who prevented the broadcast of a performance by female singers - is now trying to gain women’s votes.

Dr Muhaidin Mahdi, head of media affairs for Mansoor's campaign, said that because of some inappropriate traditions that still exist in society, opportunities for women have lagged behind those of men.

He said that the gap between educated and uneducated women should be reduced.

Another presidential candidate, Engineer Ahamad Shah Ahmadzai, a member of the religious right, who is a high- ranking official of Etihad-e-Islami and a well-known participant in the anti-Soviet jihad, said that he would offer women all the rights accorded by Sharia law.

He said that he would provide the opportunity for women to decide who they marry and also let widows choose their second husband for themselves.

Although Dr Massouda Jalal, the sole female candidate in the race, is not expected to seriously challenge incumbent President Hamid Karzai, her candidacy is symbolically important.

She stressed that if elected she would work for all members of the community, referring to herself as "a servant to the people of Afghanistan, including men, women and the young".

Barekzai said that while all of the candidates realise that women constitute an important portion of the electorate, none have gone far enough in expanding a role for women.

"Unfortunately they haven’t been able to make a platform which includes offers for women to be involved in political and social affairs,” she said.

The candidate that offered to give women some decision-making post in their cabinet and promised to improve the country’s security – the most important single issues raised by most women – would have the best chance of gaining women’s votes, Barekzai said.

Nasreen said healthcare issues, such of the high number of women who die during childbirth and the lack of medical facilities for their children, are the most important issues for most women.

She also said that issues such as the high rate of illiteracy among women and their lack of access to the courts and the judicial system need to be included as part of the candidates’ policies.

She said that, so far, the current government has done little to aid women in rural areas and has catered to literate women who are likely to live in urban areas.

Among women in Kabul, there was scepticism about whether any of the candidates would actually fulfil their promises if elected.

Lisa, 21, a student at Mariam High School, said candidates that are promising to give rights to women should go ahead and implement what they promise. "As a young person, I want security and in addition I want civil rights," she said.

Enjila, 30, a graduate of Kabul Polytechnic, said that she worried about whether any candidate would practice what they promised once elected.

Groos of the National Centre for Policy Research expressed concerns that the majority of people in this country, and especially women, haven't been taught what voting really means and how the process works.

She said that most people live in remote areas where they don't have access to the media and many are uneducated. "If people aren't well informed, we can't have fair elections," she said.

Wahidullah Amani and Suhaila Muhseni are IWPR reporters in Kabul.