BRIEF NO. 1

Afghanistan South Asia Country Baseline Assessment for Women Engineers in the Power Sector

The World Bank is establishing a regional network for women power Representation in sector engineers in South Asia (WePOWER). WePOWER’s objective: the Power Sector to support greater participation by women in energy projects and utilities and to promote normative change regarding women in STEM. 21% Technical21% women: 14 Technical staff: 68 Technical women: 14 Technical staff: 68 The road to gender equity for Afghan women has not been an easy one. From 1996 to 2001 the aliban 3% banned all levels of education for women. Since the collapse of the in 2001, women’s empow-erment Total3% women: 281 Total staff: 9,367 and gender equality have been among the Government’s priorities. Every ministry has a gender directorate, Total women: 281 Utilities covered: 1 (DABS) and a gender department who work with the the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MOWA) to ensure that gender Total staff: 9,367 policies are being implemented at the instituional level. But MOWA lacks an enforcement or supervision Utilities covered: 1 (DABS) power, and is restricted to policy making and an observation role. In the energy sector, the national gender commitment is reflected in Section 12 in the 2015 Renewable Energy Policy does cover the Academic Institutions Involvement of women on supply and demand side of REN projectshas and has provisions for piloting wom- Offering en-led renewable energy enterprises. Programs

TAL: 1,68 The female literacy and labor participation rates in Afghanistan are among the lowest in the world. Pri- TO 8 mary school enrollment of girls is estimated at 40.4%, with secondary and high school rates around 36%, TAL: 1,68 TO 8 compared to around 60% for boys. The total percentage of female enrollment in the 36 public universities is only 22.5% (41,041/182,344 students). Of the labor force of 7.2 million people, only 1.3 million (18%) are 3.1% women. Male participation in the labor force is 81.0% nationally, 75.3% in urban areas, and 82.7% in rural Academic institutions areas. For women, however, participation is 29.0% nationally, 21.1% in urban areas, and 30.7% in rural areas. 3.1%covered: 9 Academic institutions About 20.3% of women employees work in the nongovernmental sector, 10.3% in government, and 9.6% in covered: 9 the private sector. WOMEN: 53 Female engineering faculty:WOMEN: 53 There has been an increase in the enrollment of female students in Electrical and power engineering ma- 0% jors, but graduation rates remain low. At the nine public universities, the share of women studying electri- Female engineering faculty: caland power engineering is only 3.1% —a total of 53 out of 1,635 students. There were 35 female students 0% in the 2015-16 academic year. This number rose to 58 in the 2016-17 and 53 in the 2017-18 academic years. Afghanistan Power However, only ten women will be graduating from these programs in the next few years, due to female stu- Sector Facts dents’ dropping out or changing majors. Small Power system Only two public universities—Kabul and Kandahar Universi-ties—and no private universities offer energy majors. Eight public universities and two private universities (Dawat and Aburaihan Universities) offer electri- 1341 MW, cal-related majors, but data on female enrollments could not be obtained from these two private universities. Electricity Imports high, Hydro Dom- Data from the Ministry of Higher Education show that in 2016 only 14% of all faculty in public universities inated. The ambitious Afghan Power Sector Master Plan aims to provide were women, but very few of them were in electronic and energy departments of engineering. The Govern- electricity access of 100% in urban ment’s goal is to increase the share of female faculty to 20% by 2020. and 65% in rural areas MW by 2032.

Source: SARI-Energy

The World Bank conducted rapid baseline assessments of the power and energy sector for all eight countries in South Asia. The assessment collected utility-level data and interviewed key stakeholder groups to get a better understanding of the power sector landscape, and of key barriers that are affecting female engineering students and professionals. In Afghanistan, an extensive desk review was conductedd and key informant interviews and focus group discussions were held with 70 female and male power sector professionals and engineering school faculty and students. Geographical Table 2. Public Universities Power & Energy Engineering Students Differences University Department Total Female Students Students The presence of girls in the universities varies tremen- Electrical Power Engineering 157 2 (1.3%) dously by location. The percentage of girls enrolled Energy 120 5 (4%) almost zero in universities Polytechnic University Power Supply Engineering 193 23 (12%) that are far from big cities like Kabul, Herat, or Mazar-e-Shar- Power Electronics Engineering 28 0 (0%) if. According to the Statistics Office of Afghanistan, fe-male Al-Beroni University Electronics Engineering 280 3 (1%) enrollment is the lowest in Kunar, Laghman, Logar, and Power Engineering 70 0 (0%) Maidan Wardak Universities. Energy Department 238 1 (0.4%)

Jawzajan University Power Engineering 227 13 (6%)

Faryab University Power Engineering 104 1 (1%)

Ghazni Technical Engineering University Power Engineering 271 5 (2%)

Total 1688 53 (3%)

Source: Ministry of Higher Education

The State is the primary employer in the power sector, but the overall representation of women employees remains low. The major stakeholders are the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) and Da-Afghanistan Bresh- na Sherkat (DABS), the state power utility. Along with the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Equal Access (MRRD), and the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD), the four organizations employ 730 wom- to Education en out of 15,339 staff, among whom are 84 (17%) female engineers out of 482 engineering staff. A majority According to an Asia Foun- (53) of the female engineers work in MURD, although only 8 work in power sector related positions. Most dation survey, the number of of the women work in Kabul. Many international development partners, donors, and firms/subcontractors Afghans who say they strongly are active in the Afganistan power sector (among them USAID, WB, ADB, KfW, GiZ, and JICA); however, the believe that women should study was unable to collect data from them, especially for subcontractors employing Afghan women in their have equal access to educa- projects. tional opportunities dropped from 58.5% in 2006 to • MEW has 178 (7%) women staff, most of whom work in the Kabul rather than in the other provinces. f these women, 18 have an educational background in electrical engineering—4 with a master’s degree, 37.8% 4 with a bachelor’s degree, and 10 with two years of electrical vocational training. Only 7 of these wom- in 2015 (Asia Foundation). en are working in engineering positions, and the rest are employed in administrative jobs. All of the 8 Girls in some areas continue female electrical engineers are based in the Kabul office. None of these female engineers is employed to be harassed, sometimes at grade 1—that is, in a general directorate-level job. One female engineer is at grade 2, a director-level having acid thrown on them on their way to school, and girls’ job, and the rest are at grades 3 and lower level positoins. schools continue to be burned. • MRRD employs 130 (7%) women staff—89 in Kabul and 41 in the other provinces. The Government employs 9 female engineers in different parts of this ministry, all in grades 3 and lower level positions. Study Group and In addition, an estimated 9 female engineers are employed as contractors in development projects. Safe Spaces • MURD employs a total of 151 (10%) women staff. The ministry has a high number of female engineers Male students form study (22%), which accounts for a majority of engineers tallied in this study. However, only 8 work in pow- groups in which girls cannot er-sector related positions. Of these 8 women, 5 have masters degrees, 2 have bachelor degrees in participate because this would require them to stay at the power and electrical engineering, and 1 woman has vocational training as an electrician. university outside class hours. • DABS has 281 (3%) women staff out of a workforce of more than 9000 employees. Most of these Libraries close at 4 pm. On the women are working at a junior level positions. DABS also employs 36 female interns from engineering night before an exam, the boys universities. However, the interns are assigned to the administrative and commercial departments, not would usually gather at one the operational department. In total, 30 women have technical diplomas; 4 have master’s degrees (3 of their houses to study. How- ever, girls are uncomfortable in electrical, 1 civil), 9 bachelor’s degrees (2 civil, 3 electromechanical, and 4 electrical), and 17 have joining them for fear of being vocational training (2-years electrical). Only 14 women work in technical positions directly deal with the target of negative gossip power, but their positions are primarily office-based, such as policy analysis or design. The rest of the and judgments. women work in administrative positions, such as accounting or customer care. All the women work in the center office in Kabul. Table 3. Male and Female Employees Organization Total Staff Female Staff Total Engineers Female Staff Ratio by Location Growing Engineers Center (Kabul) F/M Provinces F / M Importance of the Afghan Civil Service MEW 2645 178 (7%) 72 8 (11%) 126 / 840 52 / 1627 Afghanistan’s female labor MRRD 1867 130 (7%) 102 9 (9%) 89 / 545 41 / 1192 force has been particularly MURD 1460 151 (10%) 240 53* (22%) NA NA affected by the withdrawal of DABS 9367 281 (3%) 68 14 (21%) NA NA international forces from the Source: MEW, MRRD, DABS, MURD. *Includes all women in technical positions (power only = 14) country, because internation- al organizations and NGOs Despite the overall increase in female recruitment in the civil services (see box), the recruitment of female were among the main sourc- engineers has actually dropped in recent years. Of the 17 female engineers who joined the Afghan-istan es of employment. Many civil service system in 2016, 2017, and the first two quarters of 2018, 5 are electrical engineers. Only 3 are women have transitioned working at grade 2, 2 at grade 3, and the rest are in grade 4 or lower level positions. One possible reason for into the civil service, where this can be the low number of female engineers graduating and actually entering the workforce female recruitment has more than doubled from 554 wom- en (9%) in 2013/14 to 1396 Table 4. Female Engineers Recruited in Recent Years by the Afghan Civil Services women (18%) in 2016/17. The Years Total Engineers Female # of female power engineers Government has committed to further increase wom- 2015 – 2016 49 12 (24.4%) 4 are female power sector engineers en’s representation in the CSC 2016 – 2017 73 5 (6.8%) 1 is an electrical engineer, and 4 are civil engineers civil service and improve their Recruitments working conditions. 2017 – 2018 21 0 (0%) No female engineer Source: Afghanistan Civil Services Commission. The goal is to increase women’s participation in Overcoming strict gender norms is one of the main challenges women face during their studies and in the Government to workplace. Generally, it is believed that engineering work like complex designing and measuring, or trans- mission fields, is too “masculine” for women. The effects of this perception are worsened for women in 30% Afghanistan by the cultural, traditional, and security limitations they face. They mentioned that, as there have by 2020 from the current level not been many women in the sector, employers have never felt the need to address women’s needs, including of 22.5%. The Civil Service providing amenities such as women’s changing rooms or toilets. Commission has developed a policy to increase the • Girls and boys do not have equal access to quality education. Many boys travel to the capital to take prepa- recruitment of women by 2% ration courses, while girls do not have this option. Besides, families would prefer to invest financially in their in the civil service workforce boys than in their girls to take private tutoring – for example, in English. Of the existing university hostels, in 2018 (IARCS). 80% are for male students (Hayward, 2017). All the big universities are located only in 5 or 6 provinces, and Women’s participation at the families do not send their daughters to study away from home if they are not sure about their safety. decision-making levels is at • Once at college, female engineers are outnumbered and isolated, especially in universities in provinces 10.7% and actually decreased outside of Kabul. The societal perception that the close interaction of opposite sexes is inappropriate ex- between 2013 and 2016. Of tends to the attitudes of professors, who may not be responsive to or supportive of female students. The lack the total 8,377 Government of access to safe learning spaces hinders girls’ ability to have peer support groups or create study groups, employees who are in third grade and higher positions which are almost mandatory for solving complex class problems. Thus the already difficult coursework is (out of eight levels), 92.5% especially challenging for female students, and it is not surprising that many of them either drop out of uni- are men and versity or change their major. Family commitments after marriage is also a factor in dropping out of school. • It is considered “not appropriate” for women to travel alone or work in technical “masculine” jobs. 7.5% are Power plants or electricity grids are often located outside the city, and women are never asked to join women. when the team travels to the site The MEW focus group participants revealed that when there is a job

Divergent Paths After Graduation “My husband and I were engineering classmates at the university and we both work in the power sector now. I was the top student in the class. However, after gradua- tion, my husband got the chance to work in field-based positions and do practical work in power plants and stations. My understanding remained limited to theories I learned in the class. When I ask my husband for some information, he seems shocked that I don’t know those details because he still expects me to be on top of everything. I tell him, because I did not go to the field I did not get the chance to have the first-hand learning experience.” - Female engineer in Afghanistan Positive Discrimination under DABS, Afghanistan To promote the hiring of more women, DABS adds 10 additional marks (points) for women in the recruitment exams—5 marks for the written test and 5 for the interview – compared to men. outside of the office, men are directly hired: “They decide for us without asking if that is what we want.” The exams usually consists All the female participants in the sector work behind a desk, often in design, management, secretarial, of 80-100 questions. This sur- or administrative roles. Women mainly occupy the lower-level positions, which do not come with man- passes the requirements by agement and technical professional responsibilities. In addition, lack of security often prevents them Afghanistan’s Civil Servants from going to the field, depriving them of learning and promotion opportunities and better salaries. Law, which stipulates the use of only 5 marks as evidence • Language barriers and access to technology are two of the greatest obstacles women face in reach- of positive discrimination. ing the top. To flourish at work, workers need to keep their technology skills up to date, attend training, and read more about recent developments in their field. Employees who are sent for capacity-building USAID’s training abroad need to have English language knowledge, and the majority of participants covered Engineering by this research did not speak English. Classes in both schools and universities are taught in the na- Support Program tional languages of Afghanistan, Dari and ; people take English language classes outside of Each year the program hires school. Since most women work in middle or lower-level positions, they cannot afford the fee—equal to a month’s salary—for computer or private English language classes. In addition, women are responsible 16 female for all chores at home, and they need to go home right after working hours. One of them laughed and interns from engineering uni- said, “Who will cook dinner if I go to English or computer class after work?” versities and provides them the opportunity to make field • The participants did not wish to share their experiences of harassment or of being the victim of sexist visits, execute practical as- culture. These issues are perceived as taboo, and people do not feel comfortable talking about them. signments, attend seminars, It is encouraging to see a growing recognition of the gender gap and a commitment to improving the situation and learn software applica- from the highest office in the country. There have been various efforts such as USAID’s Engineering Support tions that are related and Program and the Women in Government Program, which has trained more than 3,000 women to serve in the important to their academic field (USAID). Government. Early in 2018, the Administrative Office of the President reviewed MEW’s progress report on gender mainstreaming efforts and proposed some recommendations for the Ministry, including preparation of a com- prehensive human resources plan until 2021 and mapping of organizations in the sector to coordinate gender activities with MEW. The WePOWER network will complement ongoing initiatives and help the Afghan women REFERENCES Asia Foundation. (2016). Afghanistan in 2015. overcome their isolation and create an enabling environment in which they can achieve their educational and A survey of the Afghan People. Source: professional goals through exposure to and interaction with female engineers and students throughout the re- https://asiafoundation.org/resources/pdfs/ Afghanistanin2015.pdf: gion. Indeed, DABS management shows a strong commitment to promoting gender equality within its structure. Central Statistics Organization. (2014). Afghanistan Living Condition Survey- Annual Survey. Kabul, CSO. —. (2017). Women and Men in Afghanistan in 2016. This was the first study of its kind to examine female engineers in the power sector and the findings are Kabul, CSO. indicative of the overall gender issues in Afghanistan. It was encouraging to find a relatively healthy number Hayward, Fred M. (2017). “Progress on gender equity in Afghan higher education.” Article: of female engineers, however, it is discouraging to see that many women do not work in technical positions https://www.universityworldnews.com/post. php?story=20170111130351745 related to their studies. The organizations could start by targeting internal qualified female participants to fill Independent Administrative Reform and Civil more technical positions. Some of the recommendations include instituting a positive-discrimination policy Services Commission (IARSC). 2018. Policy on Increasing Women Participation in Civil Service. in admissions for the undergraduate engineering program and building more female-only dormitories. The Kabul, IARCSC. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2015). Afghanistan’s Government in partnership with NGOs should also look into effective opportunities for secondary schoolgirls National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325-Women, Peace, and Security. Kabul, MoFA. to receive pre-Kankor (university admission exam) training or additional math and English language tutoring. Ministry of Women Affairs. (2017). National Action A peer mentoring program and exposure to STEM early is imperative. At the sectoral level, an enabling envi- Plan for the Women of Afghanistan (NAPWA). Kabul, MoWA. ronment for women should be pursued, starting with safe transport and accommodations for women. The —. 2009. Elimination of Violence Against Women Law. Official Gazette. Kabul, MoWA. government gender regulatory framework and monitoring system should also extend to contractor works, —. 2007. The Labor Law of Afghanistan. Official such as considerations for a 30% female recruitment quota. These efforts in the energy sector are only part Gazette. Kabul, MoWA. External Picture credits: Paul J. Richards/AFP/ of the overall collective efforts to bring positive sociocultural cultural change. Getty Images, 2017, USAID/Afghanistan 2017

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