Afghan women inch ahead

Kabul, Feb 9 (Newswire): Each morning, the policewoman puts on her uniform, goes to her precinct office, sits behind a bare desk. And waits.

She is one of several officers appointed to make it easier for women to report domestic violence. Her job ought to be one of the busiest in the district. Instead, Pushtoon, who goes by one name, has one of the loneliest.

"Last week we had one woman. Before that there had not been anyone for several weeks," she said, twisting hands left scarred by her attempt at suicide years ago in a Taliban jail. "Women are afraid to come, but we are not allowed to go to them.

"The police chiefs will not let us. They say it is unsafe for women officers," she said.

Five years after the end of the Taliban era, there are new opportunities for women in Afghanistan, and notable efforts are underway to make their daily lives better, especially in Kabul, the capital. Improving the status of women has been a core goal of U.S. policy, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a congressional hearing in 2005 that enshrining women's equality in the Afghan constitution was an important advance for the entire region.

But conversations with dozens of women suggest that each step forward has been a struggle. Afghan society remains deeply uncomfortable with the idea of women gaining independence and authority. The Taliban's resurgence has reversed incremental gains, particularly in the south. If the Taliban incursions spread, more women probably will lose ground.

Families in the south that recently began allowing their daughters to go to school and wives to enroll in vocational programs have pulled them out because of Taliban attacks.

"Women's future depends so much on security. As much as security deteriorates, women's situation deteriorates," said Masuda Jalal, former acting minister of women's affairs. "At the first sign of insecurity, the head of the family protects his women and children, and the first measure they take is to keep them inside the house."

Women who have gained ground haven't talked of the constitutional principles of equality. Instead, they focus on the respect accorded women by the Qur'an and on the importance of mothers and homes, where older women have long held positions of power.

Their goal, often unstated, is to convince fathers and brothers, husbands and sons that when a woman is empowered, the males benefit as well. They hope their daughters at least will have more choices than they had.

Women are learning to drive, some at their husbands' urging so they can help with family errands. A few have opened bank accounts. Women have become a regular presence on TV talk shows, and they deliver weather reports and other news features.

According to Farsona Simimi, a popular talk-show host, "There is a quiet revolution here." But, she added, "I do not know whether it will succeed."

Educated Afghans and international aid workers say the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai has done little besides removing the Taliban restrictions. He has only one woman in his Cabinet of 25 and none among his top advisers.

Several Afghan women said that they had encouraged Karzai to do small things, such as have his wife accompany him to public events, but that he had never done so.

Rahala Salim was one woman who became a judge in the 1980s under the Communists, and she recalls watching in horror as the Taliban dismantled every vestige of protection for women.

"As a judge, when I saw women coming to me crying because they had been abused, I felt responsible, I felt I had to defend their rights," said Salim, who was removed from her post by the Taliban.

Under their rule, she said, "If a man was accused of rape, it was the woman who was arrested and blamed."

Salim knew from her legal studies that Sharia, or Islamic law, offered women some legal protection. The Qur'an and "hadiths," the sayings of the prophet Muhammad, are open to an array of interpretations. And early Islam glorifies several women, including Muhammad's daughter Fatima, who is portrayed as an independent leader of her people.

"We have to know the real Sharia, we have to be able to point to passages in the holy Qur'an and say, 'Here, read this,' " Salim said. "In Islamic history, men have been the boss. They want to be the boss forever. That's why they never want women to appear in public, but that is not Islam; that is cultural tradition." The notion of Islam as a pillar of freedom came from Salim's mother.

"My mother didn't have any sons, and so my father took a second wife, and it made her extremely sad and it made her life very hard," Salim said. "She told me, 'Unless you can have enough education, you can never stand against men. You must learn Islam so you can struggle against them.'"

During the Taliban era, Salim began to teach the Qur'an. Once a week, 70 women would gather for classes -- sometimes at her house, sometimes elsewhere, so the Taliban would not become suspicious.
"l would cook something, as if we were just gathering for a meal, and then we would recite the holy Qur'an and discuss Islamic questions and then political issues," she recalled.

After the Taliban fled, Salim ran for Parliament. But she understood that she would need the mullahs behind her, and when she was elected, she asked them whether she could address families in the mosque. Her appeal opened the door for women to enter there. In her district, women never had; they prayed at home.

"It was the first time that women saw the inside of the mosque," she said. Then, with the mullahs' assent, she asked the families to send their daughters to school.

Other women have reached similar conclusions: that if they are to persuade men to stand behind them, they will need mullahs as allies and Islam as a shield.

Jalal, the former women's minister, has convened meetings of mullahs to discuss Qur'anic interpretations of women's rights. A meeting last summer in Kabul drew 100 mullahs from around the country. Jalal also has asked new "women's councils" to work closely with local mullahs. So far, the councils are active primarily in Kabul and on its outskirts.

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SA/EN