CIAO DATE: 04/2012
March 2012
United States Institute of Peace
Afghanistan and Iraq are now at critical turning points and face many challenges to achieving sustainable peace. Both countries face ghosts of the past, including struggles between religious and secular forces, resistance to power sharing, and tensions with regional neighbors. Women in both countries made initial strides forward but recently find themselves increasingly vulnerable to having their rights and opportunities rolled back. Since 2001, Afghan women have made great strides. According to Amnesty UK, Afghan women currently constitute 27 percent of seats in the lower house of parliament. In the 2010 parliamentary elections, 40 percent of voters were women.3 In the health sector, programming focused on maternal health has helped infant and child mortality rates decline by 22 percent and 26 percent respectively since 2002. The percentage of USAID-funded healthcare facilities that report at least one female healthcare worker has risen from 26 percent in 2002 to approximately 82 percent in 2010.4 Education and vocational training programs for women have contributed to an increase in school attendance. Of the seven million children attending school in 2010, 37 percent were girls. This percentage was virtually zero under Taliban rule. Literacy and numeracy skills training have reached more than 94,000 women in twenty provinces. In the economic realm, women's programming emphasizing economic growth opportunities has supported 2,300 enterprises owned by women, helped establish 400 new businesses, and trained more than 5,000 women in local handicrafts, value chain, and fine arts businesses. Women comprise 60 percent of the country's agricultural workforce.5 These statistics represent the remarkable progress Afghan women and the government of Afghanistan have made over the past ten years, including landmark advances such as the adoption of a 25 percent quota for women in Parliament in the national constitution, and the adoption of laws and policies to combat gender-based violence and advance gender equality.6 However, the challenges that Afghan women still face are considerable. A recent study by the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs and women's groups reports that approximately 57 percent of girls in Afghanistan are married before the age of sixteen. The estimated literacy rate for women is 15.8 percent, and nearly 90 percent of women in the rural provinces are illiterate.7 Women also remain significantly marginalized in peace and transition efforts.
Resource link: Lessons from Women's Programs in Afghanistan and Iraq [PDF] - 153K