Afghan women have learnt to live with the Taliban making good use of the double-edged sword at times. Before the Taliban came back, Afghanistan had the second largest number of Women MPs in its Parliament in the Asia-Pacific region, behind India and better than its neighbours.
@prashanthamine
Mumbai: It is a strange contradiction of Afghanistan society, according to Afghan-American ethnicity Mariam Atash Nawabi, Attorney and founder of Afghanistan Advocacy Group, women in Afghanistan out-number men in a ratio of six to four. Yet the irony is that under the Taliban regimes they are brutally oppressed and tortured.
Taking note of the historical gender fact the new Afghanistan Constitution first adopted in 1964, later redrawn in 2004 guaranteed reserved seats for women Members of Parliament in its Shura (the Parliament). The Afghan parliament is perhaps the oldest in the Indian sub-continent as it came into existence way back in 1931.
Often faced with imminent hostile adversaries like the Taliban and other terror outfits like Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISIL–KP) since October-November 1994 and its eventual capture of Kabul in September 1996, women in Afghanistan have by now come to terms with living under the dreadful shadow of terror.
So, when the Taliban for the second time ran over Kabul, women did hold sporadic protests forcing the Taliban to amend its old ways allowing them to report to their government jobs wearing headscarves. However, they have not allowed Afghan women athletes to take part in the Tokyo Olympics or the on-going Paralympics in Tokyo.
According to an April 2014 Policy Brief by Seran de Leede of International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, (ICCT) depending upon the circumstances, the local strength of Taliban and other terror outfits like ISIL-KP, Afghan women have either resisted them if they (Taliban) were weak or lent support to the terror outfit if it was strong. But the underlying crux of the response was borne out of her struggle to save herself and her family.
It is a poor reflection on the way Afghan men leave their women and children at the mercy of the Taliban who often treat them as sex slaves or force them to abide by their strict religious codes.
What is interesting to note here is that according to Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Afghanistan has the second highest number of Women Members of Parliament in their Shura (Parliament) in the Asia-Pacific region. It is second to India and what is more important to note here is that Afghanistan ranks higher with its neighbours like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
Currently as per IPU’s February 2019 data, Afghanistan ranks 76th in overall Global Parliamentary rankings, whereas India is ranked 148th. The current 17th Lok Sabha has 78 women MPs in a 542-member house and 27 women MPs in a 245.
The Afghanistan Shura (Parliament) consists of two houses: the Wolesi Jirgah (House of the People) and Meshrano Jirgah (House of the Elders). At present, in the 250 seat Wolesi Jirgah, 59 seats (23.6%) are reserved for women. Whereas, in the 68 seat Meshrano Jirgah, there are 16 women MPs.
The 2004 Afghan constitution guarantees 27% reservation for women in Wolesi Jirgah and 17% reservation for women in Meshrano Jirgah. The new Afghan constitution now mandates that at least two women representatives are elected to the Wolesi Jirgah from the 34 Afghan provinces.
Furthermore, in the Wolesi Jirgah, there are 34 multi-member constituencies. Sadly, the Afghan parliament for which elections were held in October 2018, has now been dissolved by the Taliban on August 17, 2021. Its last emergency sitting was on August 3 called to discuss the advancing threat of Taliban.
The Wolesi Jirgah has the highest rate of female participation than most of the world’s legislatures, including the US Congress. While this may sound impressive, observers note that the female MPs lack real decision-making powers.
The US Congressional Research Service (US-CRS) in its ‘In Focus’ research briefing for Congressmen on August 18, 2021 notes that “decades of war after 1978 and the repressive five-year rule of Taliban has severely undermined the rights and development of Afghan women, who had been granted equal rights under the 1964 constitution. Since 2001, Afghan women have made advancements in areas such as political representation, education, employment and healthcare”.
According to US-CRS, as per some development indices, the average life expectancy of an Afghan woman in 2018 was 66 years as against 75 years internationally. In terms of mean years of schooling that an Afghan girl got was just 1.9 years in 2018. In terms of Gross National Income (GNI) the Afghan woman earned on average $1.102 as compared to $2.355 earned by men. Whereas, the global average GNI for women was $11.246 and $20,160 in 2018.
The Afghan government until its ouster by the Taliban had resolved to create 30% reservation for women in civil service. Plans were also there for increasing women representation in Afghan armed forces by 2% in May 2021.
During its earlier five-year rule in 1996-2001 the Taliban had prohibited women from working, attending school after the age of eight and appearing in public without the company of any male relative and without wearing a burqa.
However, in some cases where the local communities have strongly advocated for women’s education, the Taliban have allowed it until 6th grade, where it does not, the Taliban have closed girls’ schools. A 2018 study did not identify any girls’ secondary schools open in areas of heavy Taliban influence or control, states the US-CRS briefing paper.
Secretary of State, Antony Blinken had in April 2021 had stated that “if the Taliban has any expectation of international acceptance… it’s going to have to respect the rights of women and girls”. While some members have encouraged the administration to expedite the relocation of Afghan women leaders and activists to the United States under a new humanitarian parole category.
According to the ICCT Policy Brief, female suicide bombers have demonstrated that they can get closer to their target undetected, which often makes them more effective than their male counterparts. The arrest of a Saudi terrorist fund-raiser and weapons supplier often referred to as ‘the first lady of al-Qaeda’ in 2010 further suggests involvement of women in the higher ranks of terrorist organisations, adds ICCT 2014 paper.
More recently, counter-terrorism agencies and several scholars have started emphasising the possible role of women as part of the solution in combatting terrorism.
Also Read: Collapse of Kabul leaves a sinkhole for China and Pakistan
As for the Afghan women’s role in supporting terror activities of Taliban and other terror outfits, the ICCT argues that “support for an organisation does not necessarily presupposes a certain level of radicalisation. Often, engagement is motivated out of pragmatic considerations, or driven by other factors such as fear”.
It is considered the duty of the men (Afghan men) to uphold the respectability of their women. The strict segregation related to Purdah is not practiced in all parts of Afghanistan. The Nomadic Kuchi women, for instance, are usually not segregated from men, nor are the Shiite Hazara women required to seclude themselves. Purdah is also less practiced among the Tajik people of Afghanistan.
According to the ICCT, throughout modern Afghan history, tribal linkages and religious authority have often been stronger than the central authority. Especially when Kabul enforced reforms that contradicted tribal or religious customs, opposition was fierce. At times Afghan women used to assist their husbands in their fights and often carried weapons for them under their clothes.
Many young women of Kabul never wore the chadari (head-to-toe cover) prior to the Taliban rule, this was a garment worn only by their grandmothers or women in the rural areas in the south. Most women in Kabul in the 1990’s did not even own such clothing. They were allowed to work, study and move around freely without being accompanied by mahram (a male family member).
During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, some Afghan women played supportive roles to the Mujahedeen in their efforts to oust the Soviets. They often sheltered and hid them, cleaned, oiled and repaired weapons, attended to injured Mujahedeen and served as couriers. Bibi Ayesha, a female warlord, dismissed the idea that women could not fight in battle and commanded a band of 150 men in the Nahrin district of Baghlan in northern Afghanistan. She did so while conforming to Pashtun culture and insisted a male relative accompany her into battle.
In other parts of Afghanistan, especially the parts dominated by other ethnicities, the Taliban were never able to establish complete control. Women from ethnic minorities such as Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara were systematically targeted and abducted, states the ICCT paper. Resistance groups in the north would later form the United Front (Northern Alliance) and play an important role in pushing back the Taliban groups.
The resurgence of the Taliban also affects the position of women in society and their political and economic opportunities. Women who are politically active and who resist traditional gender roles are often intimidated and threatened by conservatives and the Taliban.
According to claims made by Dr Rostami Povey from SOAS University of London in ICCT paper, Taliban earlier had a secret service that employed between 15,000 to 30,000 official spies and over 1,00,000 paid informers, some of which were women. Taliban women would often spy on fellow women and report their activities back to the male Taliban commanders.
Recruitment of women in Taliban and other terror outfits has often got to do with previous familial links, or marriage of daughters from one cell or group to another, or prospective women recruits directly approaching the male Taliban commanders.
Since 1979, the Revolutionary Afghan Women Association (RAWA) has encouraged women and others to resist oppression and to advocate for peace, democracy and women’s rights. At times women have been known to protect their male family members from the Taliban soldiers. The civil war has had its devastating impact on the male population and many households have been left without any adult male members.
