Afghan women find political voice

Halima Kazem 6/14/02

At late night "tea parties" in the dormitories of Kabul Polytechnic, where Afghanistan is conducting a grand legislative council called an emergency Loya Jirga, political newcomers fill the halls with talk of political strategies. These newcomers, 160 women who would have been banned from appearing in public under the Taliban militia, have surprised most of the male delegates with their assertiveness, leadership and organization. Despite the educational and professional setbacks the Taliban imposed during its five-year rule since 1996, these 160 women are helping enrich Afghan politics, not just helping advance women.

These women have ingratiated themselves into the heart of the Loya Jirga. On June 13, when delegates elected interim government chairman Hamid Karzai to serve as president for two years, a Kabul delegate named Massouda Jalal gathered nearly 200 votes. Jalal was the first woman to run for head of state in Afghanistan. Although her loss to Karzai was something of a foregone conclusion, she is still campaigning for a position in the Karzai cabinet.

A former World Food Program employee and a professor of medicine at Kabul University, Jalal won praise from male and female delegates after her fifteen-minute speech on June 13. "I am your sister and if you want me as a leader than I will be your leader," said Jalal as she tucked a wisp of dark hair under her peach-colored headscarf. "The women of Afghanistan are champions and they have to tell the world that even though they have been forced inside the home for the last five or six years they are living proof of the problems facing the Afghan people and the nation. They can free Afghanistan and the world can trust them," said Jalal.

Of course, in a country where many public officials earned their reputations on the battlefield, women can make inscrutable politicians. Jalal, who would not reveal her age or ethnicity, says that she always had it in her heart to be a leader for the right reasons and not for political or personal gain. "I have been thinking about this for 23 years when I see our people suffering, dying of poverty, I would always think, what is our way out of these problems? Now the opportunity has come," said the Kabul representative. "I am an Afghan woman and I am qualified to be a leader of this country. That is all that matters," she said.

With their relative anonymity, women like Jalal may influence the Loya Jirga in subtle ways. During intermissions, crowds of men gathered around key women figures asking their opinions on the day's events. "We see women in government positions as very patient and trustworthy, we think that if a woman was leader, Afghanistan would progress much faster," said one male delegate. Jalal says she is not affiliated with any political party but was strategically trying to sway support from delegates who had intended to vote for former King Zahir Shah.

Such a move would have been impossible in June 2001, when the Taliban banned men and women from occupying the same room together. Though Karzai reached out to former Taliban members in his acceptance speech on June 13, delegate Surya Bahader rebuffed the memory of the militia. "Don't ask about them anymore," she said. "God gave them their punishment and now the women of Afghanistan are thinking about their bright future."

Like Jalal, Bahader has been recognized as a leader amongst the women of the Loya Jirga. She has become somewhat of a spokesperson, speaking out against delays caused by bickering between the male delegates. "We are here to work and choose the best people for our government. Too much time is being wasted on the past," Bahader said.

Many female delegates have raised sensitive political issues during the grand assembly. One female delegate protested the Commission's use of the national anthem that had prevailed under former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, whom she said ran a corrupt regime. Others protested having warlords like Wahabbi leader Abdul Rasul Sayyaf at the assembly and as a voting delegate. "Sayyaf should not even be in this tent. His hands are as bloody as the rest," said a female delegate standing at a microphone just one row away from Sayyaf.

Some say women are able to voice their concerns freely because, for the most part, they are not tied to any political groups. They say their liberation from warlords and corrupt village commanders keeps them fair and unafraid. "The women's hands are not bloody, it is the men who do the killing and who are fearful of each other," said Maha Mushtari.

But to advance in Afghan politics, women will have to conquer common gender ideas that did not vanish with the Taliban. A male delegate from the conservative eastern province of Kunar says the Koran forbids a woman to be the president of a country. He did not want to be identified. Other male delegates, like Attiqullah Atta, say they are caught in a tough place. "I want my wife to be able to run for president of Afghanistan but what happens to the children when she has to travel?" he said. "Also, politics is male dominated, how am I supposed to let her travel with other men?"

Among the many questions confronting delegates at the Loya Jirga, this may be one of the most sensitive. But the women of the Loya Jirga say they can be political within their cultural and religious framework. "There is room for politics in Isalm," one woman said. So far, there seems to also be room for women in Afghan politics.

Editor's Note: Halima Kazem is a former documentary producer for MSNBC and has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications. She is reporting for EurasiaNet from the Loya Jirga.

Posted June 14, 2002 © Eurasianet