AfghanistanAfghanistan Research Research and and Evaluation Evaluation Unit Unit 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