Malalai Joya and Mrs. Shahla Ata are the newest women figures in the political arena of the dynamic South Asia (Afghanistan is the latest member of SAARC). Though these women might have failed to dethrone a hypocritical Hamid Karzai, they have certainly made an impact on the extremely conservative and regressive society of Afghanistan. South Asia has always managed to throw up surprises to the rest of the world by electing powerful women to the top posts. The journey was propitiously kicked off by Sirimao Bandaranaike, the first woman Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (also the first ever woman head-of-the-state of any country in the world). Her daughter, Chandrika Kumaratunga followed suit and occupied both the top legislative and constitutional posts in Sri Lanka – the Prime Minister and the President respectively. Much before her, Indira Gandhi set her foot on the difficult path of following her father’s (Jawaharlal Nehru) legacy. Benazir Bhutto inherited a volatile and tumultuous Pakistan after the execution of her father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Similarly, Bangladesh has its own women leaders to boast of, namely, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. One factor that encompasses all these women leaders is their political lineage, probably the only factor that could facilitate their passage to the coveted posts. The other element that binds them together is a reign marred by controversy and political conspiracy.
But today, when the whole world seems to be up in arms to safeguard and promote the rights of women as well as provide them equal political and electoral opportunities, Afghanistan does not want to be left behind. However, the persisting scenario of this war-torn country is completely different from the rest of the nations. “Women don’t have rights in Afghanistan – or too few, if any. The difference between men and women is big. Here, a man can say anything he wishes but a woman’s voice is always suppressed.” These are the vociferous words of Ok Minawa, one of the 328 women who competed for the 35 Afghan Provincial Council seats. She was identified as the woman dressed like men (one of the cross-dressing women) carrying a pistol in her waistband – Afghan counterpart of Phoolan Devi, though not as aggressive and liberated as ‘the Bandit Queen.’
“A Woman’s Lot in Kabul, Lower Than a House Cat’s” – the title of the review of “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times puts the bonded condition of Afghan women in a nutshell. The novel itself deals with the “uneducated women who have to endure the hardships of life, the slights of men, the disdain of society,” as Khaled Hosseini, the author of the book says. The two protagonists, Mariam and Laila fight against the religious, social, economic, political, psychological and cultural constructs of a scarily rigid, anti-women society. Their attempts to flee from the turmoil prevailing in their country and seek refuge in safe haven are thwarted by their so-called saviours – “the Mujahideen” and the ‘authoritative’ men of their lives.
The Afghan women have lived in subjugation for years under different regimes. When George. W. Bush’s troops stormed into the Afghan soil flying the American flag as high as it never had been in the past, Bush proclaimed, “today the women of Afghanistan are free!” The authenticity of their so-called movement from ‘oppression’ to ‘freedom’ is debatable. As the elections drew near, the Karzai government gradually began to appease the fundamentalist Muslim clerics, especially the Shia clerics. In April, he approved a law which sanctioned rape within marriage. He upheld The Shi’ite Personal Status Law, which “gives fathers full custody of children; allows a husband to starve a wife who withholds sex; bans women from leaving the house without permission; and provides men with immunity from rape charges if they agree to pay the victim’s family ‘blood money’.” In such a scenario, how credible and effective is the reservation of 25% of seats in the Provincial Council and 27% in the Parliament? Even a Malalai Joya, considered the “the bravest woman in Afghanistan” and compared to Aung San Suu Kyi, was disqualified from the Parliament for “insulting fellow representatives in a television interview.” She had criticized the warlords and war criminals inside the Parliament.
The 2009 Afghan Elections marked a significant shift from the male-dominated electoral affair. Two women ran for President, Seven for Vice-President, 328 for Provincial Council seats (10% of the candidates) and about 5 million registered women voters. More significantly, of the 4.5 million voters who have registered for the first time, nearly 38% are female. The unrelenting campaign by various women’s organizations and media has led to a considerable increase in the number of women candidates in Kabul; however, the picture of Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces is still bleak with the number of women candidates less than the number of seats themselves. More than this, the security level has deteriorated awfully since the last elections. Sitara Achakzai, a member of Kandahar’s provincial council, was shot dead in April. Blasts were reported throughout Afghanistan in the weeks leading to the historic polls.
The loya jirga (grand assembly) organized by various women activists worked exceedingly well in raising awareness among the women and mobilize their votes. Women activists like Shinkai Karokhail (also a member of Parliament), Mahbouba Seraj, Orzala Ashraf and others stress on the need for focussing on the real issues like advancement of women’s rights, especially their right to freedom of expression, educational and political rights. Wazhma Frogh, the country director of Global Rights, a human rights advocacy group, said, “The women’s jirga is a step in the right direction.” Hopefully, there will be more than just a Hasan Bano Ghazanfar, the sole woman minister in Karzai’s previous cabinet!
The more worrying factor is the increasing violence in the Afghan society, particularly targeted at women. This was one of the major reasons why the turnout among women voters was dismal, sometimes even zero in some parts of the south. One election official estimated overall turnout at 40-50 percent, down from 70 percent in the last presidential election in 2004.The onslaughts of rockets on the polling day and the general tendency of the public to alienate women from politics resulted in this huge disappointment. The mounting violence is becoming a major roadblock for the transition of the nation from an ‘ultra-pseudo-democracy’ to ‘less-pseudo-democracy’ (as democracies can never be perfect). The general apathy and dissatisfaction over the Karzai government’s performance coupled by the presence of the diabolic NATO forces have also added fuel to fire. However, awareness still remains very grim; issues are almost non-existent in many parts of the country. The idea of democracy and elections are also unknown to a large section of the society; women are the most ignorant of all sections as they are secluded and restricted from the outside world. Taliban might have been demolished in Afghanistan physically, but its ideology still thrives. In fact, Taliban is gradually regrouping on the soils of the neighbouring Pakistan, where several cases of human rights violations especially against women have been reported. Women who venture out without a man, women who dare to acquire education, women who do not bother to wear a burqa, women who challenge the dogmatic religious principles, women who dare to ‘smile’ or ‘laugh’ in public, women who dare to ‘enjoy’ life and therefore, any woman who seeks her human rights (the right to be a human and the right to live with dignity) would be flogged, razed, thrashed and persecuted.
A country which is the fifth poorest country in the world and where 85% women are illiterate, women require special attention for holistic development. Rachel Reid, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch, comments, “One woman in Kandahar coming out and casting the vote is like more than 1,000. The fear I had is maybe none of the women would come out.” How can this fear be quenched? How can such genuine notions be defied and surmounted? Amanullah Jayhoon, Afghan ambassador to Australia, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Afghanistan’s independence from British rule lamented that “his home was once a peaceful and beautiful country, not a ‘hell hole’. The people were poor, but generous, honest, proud and loved their freedom.” The day when the Afghan women can take pride in their existence and their much-loved freedom by exercising their electoral rights and throwing themselves into the political fray (subject themselves to the judgment of the people), Afghanistan would have achieved legitimate independence from both the religious fanatics and the external intruders.
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The Author Dhanasree Jayaram is a student of English Literature at Stella Maris College and is an aspiring journalist. Ironically, she enjoys non-fiction more than fiction. Though English Literature transcends fancy and imagination to delve into social and political issues as evident in essays, (auto)biographies, travel writing and so on, purists are still unconvinced about the role of non-fiction in the sphere of English Literature. Urvashi Butalia’s amazing account of partition – “The Other Side of Silence” was the first non-fiction work that changed her flawed perception of non-fiction. Besides reading, she loves politics and polemical writing pertaining to politics. Obsessed with Indian elections – Centre or State – she has an unrelenting fascination for psephology. She is a strong advocate of protection of environment and therefore, regards eco-feminism as a formidable force. She wishes to specialize in South Asian Affairs (including literature) and explore the conflict-ridden areas of South Asian countries. She devours sports (mainly soccer, cricket and tennis) and has an uncanny tendency to support the underdogs (even when India is one of the teams on the ground)! Music, especially Carnatic, Hindustani and Instrumental (violin) is very close to her soul! She likes reading “The Hindu” and “The New York Times” occasionally. She watches all movies except fantasies; She cannot digest fantasies including the ‘legendary’ Harry Potter!!
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