AfgAhfagnhiasntaisnt aRne sReeasrecahr cahn da nEdv aElvuaaltuioanti oUnn iUtnit Case Study Series Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan 2002-2012 Information Mapping When I asked permission to take her photos, she said, “I allow you because other women should see me in the picture and gain the courage to open some shop for themselves in public and local markets.” JULY 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan, 2002 - 2012 Information Mapping Dr. Lena Ganesh with Massouda Kohistani Rahim Azami Rebecca L. Miller July 2013 This research was funded by the UN Women Afghanistan Country Office 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Editing: Brandy Bauer Design and layout: Michael Monts Cover Photograph: Photo taken by Massouda Kohistani, Shahr-i-Naw, Kabul AREU Publication Code: 1311 © 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. 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Dr. Lena Ganesh Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2013 .... with the hope of a peaceful Afghanistan amid the problems that we have, may there come a day in our life that there should be an Afghanistan without violence, without weapons, without cultivating poppy, without crime and kidnappings, ... we are in this hope so that merciful Allah do mercy on our people so that the people themselves bring some changes because I don’t think that an angel is coming to help us or others will bring change to us and it has been proved that no one can bring changes but we ourselves, as there is a holy Ayah which says that Allah will never bring changes to a nation until they don’t bring it themselves, till we don’t try and start working .... but unless we take courage in our hands and build this country then no foreigner can ever bring changes. And there is nothing else to say. Representative, Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, AREU interview, 31 December 2012 Information Mapping Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan, 2002 - 2012 v 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit About the Author Dr Lena Ganesh is an anthropologist researching and working on gender, including gender in areas of armed conflict. An architect with professional experience in the media, her other areas of research experience and interest are violence against women, gendered exclusion within traditional hierarchical social structures and the historical and extant gendered uses of space. About the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit The Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) is an independent research institute based in Kabul. AREU’s mission is to inform and influence policy and practice through conducting high-quality, policy-relevant research and actively disseminating the results, and to promote a culture of research and learning. To achieve its mission AREU engages with policymakers, civil society, researchers and students to promote their use of AREU’s research and its library, to strengthen their research capacity, and to create opportunities for analysis, reflection and debate. AREU was established in 2002 by the assistance community working in Afghanistan and has a board of directors with representation from donors, the United Nations and other multilateral agencies, and non-governmental organisations. AREU currently receives core funds from the Embassy of Finland, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Specific projects in 2013 are currently being funded by the European Commission (EC), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Women, as well as the Embassy of Finland. AREU would like to extend special thanks to UN Women for making this publication possible. In particular considerable gratitude is due to Dr Mamadou Bobo Diallo, Economic Specialist, UN Women HQ New York and Mr. Asela Kalugampitiya, along with Rim Aljabi and Hassan Fahimi of UN Women Afghanistan, for their inputs in reviewing the paper. Finally, we would like to express our sincere appreciation to Anil Chandrika, WESR Specialist at UN Women for his tireless efforts and dedication to this project. vi Dr. Lena Ganesh Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2013 Preface In the recent socio-economic culture of Afghanistan, as in most countries since the Industrial Revolution’s introduction of the artificial division between production and reproduction, women’s participation in the labour economy—whether reproductive or productive—has been invisible and unaccounted for in much policy-making, planning and budgeting. In parallel, socio-cultural practices specific to Afghanistan that have often been an uncertain mix between the Shari’at code and those customary laws followed by different ethnicities and tribes have adversely affected the living conditions of women and girls. As a consequence too, women’s practical and strategic needs have not been addressed by consecutive regimes, nor has the discourse of women’s human rights percolated through much of the more recent rhetoric around “gender empowerment” to materially and politically improve the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan. This report looks at the current economic status of women in Afghanistan. It introduces and contextualises the ways in which women’s economic activities have been addressed and provides an assessment of the policies, laws and strategies drafted by the Government of Afghanistan for enhancing women’s economic empowerment. It does this through a listing and analysis of surveys, reports, projects and research undertaken and implemented by the government, multilateral international agencies, national non- governmental organisations and individual researchers on women’s economic activities. This is juxtaposed with an assessment of the status of women’s human rights and the ways in which women’s access to education, health, safety and public participation have been enhanced in the past decade. As a parallel tool in understanding the whole, it points to some strategies and methods that have been successful provincially, nationally and internationally in mitigating some of the disempowerment that traditionally placed power structures continue to effect. The report concludes with recommendations evolving from the analysis and offers an understanding of the ways in which policies and processes can often work in limited and limiting ways in programming and implementation. While streamlining can offer greater efficiency, there is a need for greater emphasis on effective and accountable programming for longer-term strategies that could offer a more sustainable environment for the economic empowerment of women in Afghanistan. This is all the more urgent given the impending transition of security responsibilities and its associated legitimate concerns on the bartering away of women’s recently (re)gained rights to placate conservative factions in peace negotiations. The programming and utilisation of resources could be better sensitised towards a cogent gender-oriented strategy that contributes concretely to women’s equal participation in the development of Afghanistan, and equally importantly, as equal citizens of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Information Mapping Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan, 2002 - 2012 vii 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit Acknowledgements This research is indebted to Massouda Kohistani, Rahim Azami and Roya Mahtabi, without whose dedication and research skills, much orientation would have been lost. Their tenacity in identifying appropriate individuals and representatives in organisations and the government and their persistence in the often burdensome task of following up with them contributed immensely to this report, as have their field notes, observation and many other aspects of research. Thanks are also due to Mahdi Mosawi for his contributions to the first phase of this project. The hard work put in by Ehsan Khamosh, Abdullah Azizi, Hoshem Sidiqi, Homayun Rahimi and Ibrahim Amiri, in translating and transcribing the interviews, remains invaluable. Particular gratitude is owed to Dr Rebecca L. Miller for her patience in gathering information and for her skills in data collation. I would like to express my deep appreciation of my other colleagues in AREU, in particular Nasrullah Baqaie, Ghulam Rasool, Ghulam Ali, Saidajan Sarwari, Parvez Azizi and Atiqullah Shahnan for accommodating the team’s logistical needs and to Raqimajan and Simagulljan for their many kindnesses. Dr Chona Echavez’s cheer and guidance through this project has been invaluable. Thanks are due to the many respondents who gave their time and proffered information. Their opinions and views on women’s empowerment in Afghanistan form the bedrock of this research. In particular, the female participants of the projects under study and the men and women of their families and communities provided invaluable information on the ways in which women and women’s economic empowerment are seen in society. In tandem, I thank the representatives of those organisations which implemented these projects and those in various departments of the government who made available data and shared their opinions on the ways in which structural processes direct women’s empowerment. Finally, I express my gratitude to the reviewers of this report who so kindly took the time and trouble to offer comments and suggestions in order to improve its quality and clarity. Any mistakes and misinterpretations remain my responsibility. Lena Ganesh July 2013 Kabul, Afghanistan viii Dr. Lena Ganesh Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2013 Table of Contents Preface ....................................................................................vii Acknowledgements .....................................................................viii Glossary .....................................................................................xi Acronyms ................................................................................ xiii Executive Summary ....................................................................... 1 1. Introduction ............................................................................ 5 1.1 Objective ........................................................................... 8 1.2 Methodology ........................................................................ 9 1.3 International agreements and resolutions ....................................11 1.4 National policy environment: strategies and laws ..........................14 1.5 Socio-economic development indicators, 2012 ..............................15 2. Assessment and Analysis .............................................................16 2.1 The status of women’s human rights...........................................17 2.1.1 Education ....................................................................17 2.1.2 Health .........................................................................20 2.1.3 Political and public participation ........................................24 2.1.4 Safety .........................................................................31 2.2 Women’s economic rights and empowerment ...............................37 2.2.1 Women’s labour participation .............................................39 2.2.2 Sectors of women’s key participation, IGAs .............................41 2.2.3 SMEs and women’s participation...........................................49 2.2.4 Networking across IGAs and SMEs .........................................56 2.3 Impacts of greater rights on economic opportunity .........................59 2.4 Summary .............................................................................76 3. Arenas for policy review ............................................................77 Appendices ............................................................................... 86 Bibliography ..............................................................................159 List of AREU Publications ..............................................................181 Information Mapping Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan, 2002 - 2012 ix 2013 Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit List of Tables, Boxes and Figures Table 1: Afghanistan’s participation in multilateral trade and trade-related organisations ....................................................14 Table 2: NESP target and program annual targets ..........................................20 Table 3: National-level female turnout and candidate numbers for Presidential and Provincial Council (PC) and Parliamentary elections ......................25 Table 4: Women and men’s responsibilities and control over livestock .................46 Table 5: Telecom statistics, end of December 2012 .......................................55 Table 6: NSP policies and practices for promoting gender equity .......................75 Box 1: NECDO: The Imam Initiative .........................................................30 Box 2: Women’s Jamaats .....................................................................35 Box 3: Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India ..............................43 Box 4: Women-only spaces, Herat and Samangan ........................................43 Box 5: Agriculture Market Infrastructure Project (AMIP) ...............................49 Box 6: The move from income generation to a registered business ...................52 Box 7: The e-choupal Initiative and its benefits to farmers ...........................56 Box 8: The domestic/putting-out system and trade .....................................57 Box 9: The Road Sector Support Programme (RSPS), Uganda ...........................72 Figure 1: Female literacy rates by province, 2008 ..........................................18 Figure 2: Percentage of women using skilled birth attendants, by province ............22 Figure 3: Recorded violence against women..................................................33 Figure 4: Violence against women and its effects ..........................................35 x Dr. Lena Ganesh Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit 2013 Glossary Baad: A practice where the female members of a family (female children, young girls, women) are given as compensation for blood feuds. Such brides are generally seen as low status and more susceptible to domestic violence, and as reminders of the harm done by her natal family to the marital family. Also practiced and seen as legitimate when an engaged woman or girl runs away (or elopes) and her family cannot pay back the expenses of the engagement borne by the groom; another unmarried female relative of the family is given or taken away as restitution. Women and girls could also be given in baad in lieu of non-repayable loans. All baad is usually either decided by the Jirga or condoned by the community and seen as restitution or as restorative justice to prevent conflict or the escalation of a feud. Baad is a criminal offence in Afghanistan. Badal: Lit. “exchange,” a practice when a female (sister, daughter, niece) and male of one family are married to a male and female from another. Seen as involving unwilling parties and/or inappropriate matches, for example, a father marrying his daughter to a man and marrying the other man’s daughter in exchange. Chaddori: The Afghan traditional, all-encompassing, loose and stitched outer garment worn by women, ideologically associated with Islam and with the honour implicit in “keeping purdah,” i.e. maintaining gender boundaries. It covers the body from head to toe, with a latticed opening over the eyes. It has generally been de rigeur among the settled population during the past century and blue in colour since about the 1990s in Afghanistan. Jirga: Gathering/council of elders—traditionally elite males, with some seniority, wealth, learning and/or other markers of social capital—within a community or tribe to discuss and decide upon economic, legal and social issues pertaining to the community’s well-being and actions. The issues could be intra-community, inter-tribe/community or between the community/tribe and the state. Decisions taken by the Jirga members can be authoritative and not generally open to dissent or non-compliance. Mahram: Husband or another close male relative with whom marriage is prohibited and who is responsible for the well-being and actions of a woman. Mahr: The amount given by the groom to the bride. While mahr-e-moajal is given at the time of marriage, mehr-e-ma’ajal, the amount set upon the finalisation of marriage is, under Islamic jurisprudence, a contractual obligation to be paid by the husband to the wife in the eventuality of the dissolution of the marriage. Both types are observed more in their breach than by observance. Meshrano Jirga: “House/Council of Elders,” Afghanistan’s Upper House of Parliament Wolesi Jirga: “House/Council of People,” Afghanistan’s Lower House of Parliament Ulema: Religious scholars Shura: Local council Qur’an, Qur’an-e-Sharief: Lit. “reading,” Holy Qur’an; teachings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during his lifetime. Information Mapping Women’s Economic Empowerment in Afghanistan, 2002 - 2012 xi