Afghan women have not broken the glass ceiling in decision-making jobs. The government of national unity has done little to ensure women occupy 30 percent of positions of authority.
Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) figures show there are 10.7 percent women in jobs where they decide policy. Under the previous government this figure was 9.3 percent.
The authorities in the independent commission of administrative reforms and civil services say that most of the promises made to women by the leaders of the government of national unity are unreal.
Nayela Nasiri, gender head in the commission said in an interview to Killid, “The government made promises to international community and Afghan people.”
A breakdown of CSO statistics reveals that of the 26.4 percent female government employees, 21.6 percent are baccalaureates (high school graduates).
Under government rules, employees should be both high school graduates and candidates with three years of experience in the job that is being applied for. The insistence on both criteria has acted against women’s interests, says Nasiri.
“Where a candidate for a leadership position has a bachelor’s degree in Shariah and five years of experience in public relations, she should be given a chance,” she says.
Member of Parliament Fawzia Kofi, head of the parliamentary women’s affairs commission, thinks the government’s aim of increasing the number of women’in positions of authority to 30 percent is unrealistic. Independent studies show that a majority of women do not have the educational qualification and work experience required to qualify for jobs.
However, Shah Husain Murtazwi, acting head spokesperson for the president’s office, thinks the graph of women in education is rising. He points to the numbers of women who have benefited from the US Fulbright scholarships and who have been appointed as “young cadre” on their return. The government will recruit one hundred of them in decision-taking government jobs on the basis of merit, he adds.
According to Murtazwi, President Ghani has also said that the “women would occupy the posts of deputy ministers, in embassies and governor offices” to break the male monopoly of leadership positions in the government.
MP Fawzia Koofi, however, thinks the practice of appointing women as acting ministers does nothing to recast gender relations as they given next to no authority.
Gender equality
Nasiri says government offices must conduct training for staff to ensure gender equality, prevention of discrimination and sexual harassment for women.
Civil society activist Shahla Farid points to another trend in appointments in the government, which work against the interests of meritorious candidates particularly female. She says women’s recruitment is based on an informal quota and tribal system. “In a post that a Tajik woman was working only a Tajik can replace her. It will not be filled by a Hazara woman, for instance,” she says.
She claims President Ghani is to be blamed for this discrimination along tribal lines – a result of an official affirmative action policy to ensure equal representation of all tribes and communities.
Murtazawi, the president’s acting spokesperson, denies the allegation. “The government of national unity is committed to increase the number of women at decision-making levels and is not involved in any type of tribal and gender discrimination in the recruitment process of women.”
He points out that four women are ministers in the government, nine are deputy ministers and four are ambassadors. “We hope that women themselves try to increase their visibility. The government is trying to give women a more active role,” he adds.
Robina Hamdard who heads the appeals section in the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) says that despite educational qualifications and work experience, some women are not hired in key posts of local government. “More than two and a half years have passed since the promise made by the national unity government to increase the number of women in decision making. Yet in the provinces, apart from one woman as governor and another as district governor, women have not been appointed to key posts,” she says.
According to her, AWN has handed over a list of 100 qualified women to all government offices but not one of the women has been employed.
Only a few government employees are women. Munira Yusufzada, a woman’s activist, thinks insecurity, low salaries and the conservative social milieu inhibit women’s presence. Patriarchy is strong within government offices, he says. “Our community is still not ready to accept women leaders,” she rues, adding that the female governor of Ghor, Seema Joyenda, faced opposition from the start from people in the province who believed the leadership by a woman was against religious beliefs.
Merit must count
Authorities in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) as well as the parliamentary commission on women have urged the government to keep the promise made to women on their employment in government offices.
Fawzia Kofi, head of the parliamentary commission says, “I think the presence of women is necessary not only in decision making and leadership but in all areas on the basis of merit, efficiency and ability.”
MoWA spokesperson Roya Dadras says the ministry’s five-year plan for improving the status of literacy and education for women was launched in Hamal, the first month of the solar calendar.
