26 August 2005

(Candidates' programs address women's issues, national affairs)

By David Shelby
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – Four years ago, Afghan women were prohibited from working outside the home, speaking to strangers or appearing in public unless accompanied by a father, brother or husband.  Today, several hundred Afghan women are campaigning for public office.

The September 18 legislative elections will have 328 women candidates on the ballots for the lower house of the national assembly, known as the Wolesi Jirga or “house of the people,” and another 247 women competing for seats on the 34 provincial councils, which will appoint representatives to the upper house of the national assembly, the Meshrano Jirga.  These candidates hope to see the new national assembly address issues of interest to Afghan women.

“One major thing would be to help pass laws where women’s needs are taken into consideration, and gradually to do away with old, archaic laws that disregarded women’s needs and rights,” says Masooda Karoakhi, who is running for the Wolesi Jirga.  “Another aspect would be in the budget process.  We can press parliament for appropriating funds for projects that develop women.”

Another candidate, Gul Andam Diona, agrees that the parliament should establish support for women’s organizations, but she also speaks of the need to “take care of widowed women and those who have lost someone in the war.”

Karoakhi and Diona are among three Afghan women candidates who visited Washington recently as part of a political training program sponsored by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in cooperation with Delphi International Program of World Learning. 

But the women candidates’ political programs are not limited to women’s issues.  They speak with equal conviction about a broad spectrum of political and economic challenges facing their country.

Karoakhi has strong opinions about the need to put an end to corruption in the government.  “The voters want to do away with bribery and nepotism, and they want people to be in positions based on their merit, not because they know this person or that person,” she says.

Another candidate from eastern Afghanistan, who asked that her name not be used in this article, agrees.  “Our voices have to be heard, and the parliament seriously should make a decision regarding the people who are in charge but are not really, truly serving the country,” she says.

Karoakhi has clear views about the current state of the Afghan judiciary.  “Our judicial system should be rescued from the radical religionists who are in power right now in that department,” she says.

According to the Afghan constitution, the Wolesi Jirga will be charged with approving nominations for cabinet ministers and Supreme Court justices.  It will have the power to monitor the work of the ministers and justices and call for their removal in cases of illegal or inappropriate behavior.  

Karoakhi also speaks of the need for the assembly to monitor the government’s reconstruction efforts.  “Another point where the parliament can have a very positive and effective role is to make sure the reconstruction of Afghanistan is geographically balanced so that all the money does not go only to one area, but is distributed throughout the entire country,” she says.  “This will bring about a national unity, and this is what Afghanistan truly needs.”

The issue of national unity is central to Diona’s political program as well.  “We need participation of all people, all ethnic groups in social, cultural, economic and political arenas,” she says.

The women are reaching out to voters through a variety of advertising campaigns and meetings.  “I go to different meetings.  I go to schools and to hospitals and talk to them about my plans and my message,” says the candidate from eastern Afghanistan.  “And there are some areas that because of security concerns we can’t go.  So we send our friends to deliver our message.”

Karoakhi says that voters have expressed any number of concerns to her, ranging from the need for clean drinking water in rural villages to the need to confront corruption in the cities, but the candidate from eastern Afghanistan says the voters’ wishes are much the same across the country.  “We’re all from the same country.  We all have the same problems and challenges, and we all know what should be done,” she says.

While the three women’s political priorities differ slightly, they largely agree on the primary challenges facing the new assembly: confronting poverty, improving security, generating job opportunities for both men and women, improving education and providing access to health care.

The women are grateful for the support of their families and friends in their decisions to seek public office.  “If it wasn’t for them, and if they weren’t in agreement with me, I wouldn’t have done this,” says the candidate from eastern Afghanistan.  She says that some of her friends were concerned about the danger she faces as a public figure, but that most of them were in favor of her decision.

Karoakhi is proud of the courage that so many women candidates are showing.  “In a traditional and religious community, we have stood up, and we are struggling, and we are pressing for the interests of our country,” she says.

According to the Afghan constitution, each province must have at least two women in its parliamentary delegation.  This means that more than 25 percent of the representatives in the Wolesi Jirga will be women.

For additional information on Afghan election process, see Democratic Afghanistan.  See also, Rebuilding Afghanistan, for more on the countries’ economic development and reconstruction efforts.