Afghan women look to the future
«It is not an easy responsibility to be a woman in Afghanistan. Everybody knows the history of my country. We had 23 years of war and during these 23 years women were the real victims, and no one really paid any attention.» With these remarks Dr Sima Samar, deputy prime minister in the interim government in Afghanistan, opened her speech during a news conference yesterday in Athens. Dr Samar, who is from the minority Hazara ethnic group, is also in charge of the Ministry for Women’s Affairs. «This is the first time in our history that we have such a ministry,» she declared in soft-spoken English. Currently there are three women in the interim government, with two of them serving in the Cabinet, while she is one of five top deputy ministers. In a speech crafted to highlight the position of women in Afghan society in the past and current plans to advance their rights, the deputy prime minister spoke critically of all previous Afghan governments. «Women had no right to education, they were beaten and could not leave home without wearing a burka,» she remarked, referring to the tragic mistreatment and abuse of women in Afghanistan. She once said: «I have three strikes against me: I am a woman, I speak out for women and I am a Hazara, a minority group.» According to Samar, the two worst problems faced by Afghan women are poverty and the absence of job opportunities, hurdles that are augmented by the lack of equal treatment and respect. «The Taleban, those who think like the Taleban, and other fundamentalists are still in the country,» she said. Still, she noted, one cannot just stand on the side and criticize; compromises need to made so that more people can get involved in the power-sharing government and reconstruction of the country. «I know I made two compromises,» Dr Samar said. «One by being a member of this government and a second by wearing this scarf.» Born in 1957 in Ghazani, Afghanistan, Dr Samar fled to neighboring Pakistan 17 years ago after the Russian invasion. There, for the past 10 years, she has headed Shuhada, an organization based in the small border town of Quetta, providing much-needed medical assistance and education for Afghan women and children. She received her medical training from Kabul University, from which she graduated in 1984 with a degree in medicine. Today, Shuhada runs four hospitals and three clinics in Afghanistan and another hospital in Quetta. Dr Samar also operates Shuhada schools in rural Afghanistan for more than 17,400 students as well as a school for refugee girls in Quetta, which is attended by over 1,000 girls. Dr Samar, who arrived in Athens on Thursday for a five-day visit that will include a meeting with Foreign Minister George Papandreou on Tuesday, spoke of the need for the international community to have a long-term presence in Afghanistan. «You cannot rebuild a country after 23 years of war within three months, or three weeks, or three days,» she remarked, noting that when the government opened the bank reserves they found only $100,000 in various currencies, while there are 22 million hungry Afghans. She said the government has already launched projects for the construction of roads, electrical power plants and other basic infrastructure, but she was quick to stress that other critical problems for the advancement of women are also in need of funding and support. Among her top priorities are the construction of all-girl schools at all levels, along with hospitals for women, as the existing general hospitals cannot care for the special needs of women. «We would like to have short-term education courses on management and economics, and even have separate schools for women,» she noted. «The other problem is health, reproductive health especially, which was overlooked in the 23 years of war. Afghanistan has a high infant mortality rate, if not the highest.» She said that Afghan women have grown dependent on foreign aid and urged the international community to divert some funds from welfare aid to the building of schools and low-budget businesses for women, such as tailoring and carpet-making programs. Moreover, she stressed that the people of Afghanistan, especially women, are starting to gain confidence in their government, which may be attributable to participation of women in decision-making positions for the first time. «Women can do a better job when they are in power,» Dr Samar remarked, expressing her desire to see more women involved in the political life of Afghanistan. Plans for the empowerment and protection of women are to be implemented at all levels, and four working groups of women have been set up by the government to undertake some of the projects. «We want to have different departments within the ministry (for women’s affairs), including a legal advocacy office, to hire a lawyer to protect the rights of women under the constitution,» Dr Samar noted. Some of the plans provide for the construction of safe houses and the hiring of lawyers to help provide legal protection to women who are threatened with physical and sexual abuse. Although her political career has been limited to the past three months, starting when she was appointed to the interim government, she has gained significant recognition at home and abroad. She was the recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay prize in 1984 for her social work and of the 2001 John Humphrey Freedom Award. But this, she cautions, should not be played against other worthy Afghan women who may feel overshadowed by the strong reception she has received in the press. She said that there are plenty of Afghan women who were educated in Europe and who could return to Afghanistan and play a central role in the current or any future government, but she warned that if they decide to return it should be on the basis of a long-term commitment and that they should not leave again after a brief period of time.
