March was a month of exhibitions. Two exhibitions in Kabul and one each in Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad have turned the spotlight on women craftspersons.
The three-day AfghanistAlist (it is Afghani so it is super!) exhibition at the Serena in the Afghan capital had women displaying handicrafts, food stuff and clothes.
It was the result of dedicated work by Dr. Vida Popal. Thirty seven of the 144 participants were women.
Popal says the government worked jointly with the private sector. “This is our big achievement.”
Ahmad Tawfiq Dawari from the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries thinks exhibitions like these would encourage people to buy locally produced products. “We are proud of our entrepreneurs. They are up against many problems and competition from imports from other countries,” he says.
Fazila Azizi, head of development of medium and small industry in the Ministry of Commerce and Industries, says a separate chamber of commerce and industries for women was opened recently. “We hope that the women also notch up achievements like men in the trade. Economic problems could be solved with their participation,” he says.
Azizi reiterates the massive participation of women in carpet making. “It is women who do 80 to 90 percent of the work that goes into making a carpet,” he points out. Badambagh in Kabul was the venue of another exhibition on March 23. On display over two days were local products of 280 participants. Organisers were pleased to announce the signing of 89 agreements worth an estimated 162 million Afs (2.4 million USD) during the exhibition.
Lutfullah Rashed, spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, says the contracts were signed in handicrafts, agricultural items and dairy farming “between private sector and investors”.
He says the exhibition at Badambagh generated an income of 37 million Afs (553,670 USD).
An exhibition in the capital of Balkh province that opened on March 25 focused on women’s handicrafts. It was organised by the Balkh Rural Rehabilitation Development presidency, particularly the Rabia Balkhi Market in which the handicrafts of rural women were exhibited.
Maryam Mohammadi from the Balkh Development presidency says they are trying to find markets for handicrafts made by rural women. “We tell women to make products based on the needs of people so that it sells well,” she says.
Safoora, a widow, had her own stall at the exhibition. She is from Charbolak district of Balkh province and says she makes the embroidered necklaces on display because she “wants to run the wheel of her family with her own hand”. Her husband was killed five years ago in an explosion. “I have two little sons and three daughters, and I have a business in embroidered necklaces, collars, shirts for women,” she told Killid.
Argument for protection
Business was very good and she was able to take good care of her family but not so any more. “With the coming of machine-made collars in the market, handicrafts have seen sales fall. Machine-made collars are less expensive to make, hence they are priced cheaper,” she says.
Ali, a carpet-maker, is another participant at the Balkh exhibition. She is all praise for the Rabia Balkhi market where she says women can be themselves and do their work. “We thank those who have established this market for women.” “I ask other women to work shoulder to shoulder with their family. Work hard and live happily.”
On March 30, women participated in a three-day exhibition in Nangarhar.
Ataullah Khoogianai, the spokesperson for the Nangarhar governor, says a hundred exhibitors participated. “We want to encourage our traders to find market for our local products. We ask our people to buy local products.”
Halima who participated is a handloom weaver. “I ask the government to establish a separate market for our business so that we can do better business in a calm environment.”
Markets
In Herat, women manufacturers have hit a wall in finding markets for their products. On March 29, half the shops in the women’s only market in the city were shut. Nafasgul Jami, manager of the market for women, blamed the government for failing to protect their businesses from cheap and poor quality imports. “The market of local products has come to a standstill due to poor quality imported goods. Most of the women cannot pay the rent on their shops. This market was inaugurated seven years back, and only local products were sold. But now cheap Chinese and Pakistani goods have swamped the market,” she says.
Sadat, owner of one of the shops in the market, says her business has ground to a halt. “One hundred and fifty widows used to work with me. I would sell the carpets they wove in this market. Our market is in such a crisis that we cannot afford to pay the rent on the shop and I had to close it. We ask the government to prevent the low quality imports which damage our local products.”
Jailani Farhad, spokesperson for the Herat governor, promises to solve the problem. He says the governor’s office is in negotiations with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs on the rent paid by shops in the Rabia Balkhi market. “We are in negotiations to lower the rent a bit … We are also trying to find markets for handicrafts in other countries.”
