AFGHAN WOMEN’ RIGHT UNDER THREAT?
KABUL, Afghanistan - Women's rights in Afghanistan are under threat after 10 years of progress, two leading British aid agencies have said.Oxfam and Action Aid said many Afghan women were worried that improvements could be sacrificed to secure a political deal with the Taliban.
An Action Aid survey of 1,000 Afghan women found that 86% were worried about a return to a Taliban-style government.
The UK government said it was working hard to support Afghan women's empowerment "through transition". Action Aid said many women were still denied basic rights.- The charity found that 72% of those surveyed felt that things had improved for them since the start of the war in Afghanistan in 2001. But 37% feared their country would become a worse place following the departure of international troops.
- Two-thirds of Afghan women said they felt safer now than they did 10 years ago. Women and girls in Afghanistan continue to face enormous challenges, and we recognise that there is still a lot to do. ”
Action Aid said that under Taliban rule women and girls had not been allowed to go to work or school, access to healthcare had been difficult and they had not been able to leave their houses without a male relative.- The charity said progress had been made in the past decade but added that there was still a lot more to be done to improve women's lives.
An Action Aid report said: "Women are free to be educated and to work. They serve as government ministers and MPs and work as doctors, teachers, professors, entrepreneurs and - Oxfam and Action Aid said there had been real progress in girls' education and with better health care, more women in work and a new constitution that enshrined equal rights for women.
But the charities warned that these fragile advances were already under threat from worsening security in Afghanistan and a resurgent Taliban.Both organisations are using the 10-year anniversary to appeal to the British government to make sure that women's rights do not end up traded away in any future peace deal with the Taliban.
THE WOMEN OF AFGHANISTAN BATTLE FOR HEALTH AND EDUCATION
Afghan women, ride a taxi in Herat. Much of the population continues to suffer from shortage of housing, clean water, electricity, medical care and jobs.
KABUL - Women occupy a low position in Afghan society because of a lack of opportunity, she said. And one of the main problems is education."Education is very important in our lives," Waizi continued, adding that Afghan men also want women to enhance their education. In 2008, Unicef statistics estimated the female adult literacy rate (as a percentage of male) in Afghanistan to be 29 per cent. The literacy rate of 15-24 year-old men (2003-2007) was 49 per cent, compared to just 18 per cent for Afghan women of the same age.
- "People need the support of their Government. If people are not supported by their government, how can we improve their education?" Waizi asked.
- "A lot of women die in childbirth," Waizi said, "especially in the provinces."
Women are sometimes refused access to doctors in Afghanistan because of cultural sensitivities where the doctor is a man. It is seen as shameful for a woman to be "seen" by a male doctor, particularly with medical matters relating to gynaecology, such as childbirth.- A 2010 Study of Gender Equity through the National Solidarity Programme's Community Development Councils, implemented by Dacaar, highlighted this problem.
- A woman from the Parwan province, interviewed for the study, explains in her own words: "In the beginning our husbands put a lot of restrictions on us but now they cooperate with us and advise me. When I was pregnant for the first time I almost died, but my father-in-law didn't let me go to the doctor and said, ‘It is not necessary that we give the doctor an opportunity to enjoy himself just to keep you alive.'"
Source: AP
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
