The Baltimore Sun
06/10/2009
By M. Ashraf Haidari

After thirty years of war and destruction, Afghanistan remains on the bottom of the human development index, with the worst social indicators among women. The way to empower women in Afghanistan 's traditional society is through enhancing their access to primary and higher education inside or outside the country. In the United States and Europe , women were not fully enfranchised as early as last century - until they were able to acquire higher education and became financially independent.

Afghanistan has much to do to catch up. Indeed, Afghanistan 's economy could hardly grow on a sustainable basis without half of our population contributing to the reconstruction and development of the country.

In spite of much effort by various international organizations to promote gender equity in Afghanistan , there are very few programs that help Afghan women gain higher education, particularly abroad. One key exception is the U.S.-based Initiative to Educate Afghan Women, which has managed to enlist the support of a dozen American universities to grant four-year scholarships to qualified Afghan girls with leadership skills to study in the United States . Such programs need to be funded generously in order to meet Afghanistan 's urgent demand for developing our cadre of female leadership to ensure equality between women and men under our progressive constitution.

Needless to say, with Afghan women educated, their children will be healthy and educated too, and together they will contribute to the productive labor force needed to integrate with the global economy.

President Barack Obama firmly committed to protecting the basic human rights of Afghan women and children when he announced the new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan on March 27. For Afghan women, no human right is more fundamental than the right to an education inside or outside our country. Prophet Mohammed, whose wife was a businesswoman and equivalent of a female CEO today, often told his followers: "Seek knowledge, even unto China ," meaning go in quest of education wherever possible.

Over the past seven years, since the end of gender apartheid under the Taliban, Afghan women have made considerable progress, participating in the political life of our country. From the Bonn Agreement to the drafting, reviewing, and finally adopting Afghanistan 's new Constitution, women were involved every step of the way. Afghan women played a seminal role in each process, from the Emergency and Constitutional Loya Jirgas to the presidential (2004) and parliamentary (2005) elections. Their participation in these historic processes have not only helped establish Afghanistan 's state institutions but also ensured that women become equal partners to men in leading these institutions forward to serve our nation.

Therefore, Article 22 of the Afghan Constitution affirms women's equality to men before the law, and Article 83 guarantees women 27 percent of the seats in the Lower House and 17 percent of the seats in the Upper House of the Afghan parliament. Beyond the constitutional guarantees, Afghan women set out to participate and campaign hard in the national elections. More than 40 percent of the registered Afghan women turned out to vote in the presidential elections and more than 50 percent of women risked their lives to vote in the parliamentary elections.

President Hamid Karzai is committed to women's constitutional rights and the implementation of those rights through various mechanisms established in the government so far. The president has tasked legal authorities to review the constitutionality of the recent controversial Shiite family law, which discriminates against women. The law allows men to restrict women's movement, except in emergency situations, or to engage in marital sex without consent. These articles clearly contradict the Afghan constitution, which provides women and men with equal rights. President Karzai stated in a recent interview on CNN, "I have instructed - in consultation with the clergy of the country - the Ministry of Justice that the law be revised and that any article that is not in keeping with the Afghan constitution and Islamic Sharia must be removed from this law."

By enhancing attention to women's basic needs, such as education, more than half of our population can and should be enabled to make a significant contribution to Afghanistan 's long-term development. Afghan women have done their part over the past seven years, and will continue to do so as long as we stand by them. The international community must empower Afghan women through programs, such as the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women, that ensure gender equity in Afghan society now and in the long run.

M. Ashraf Haidari is the political counselor of the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington , D.C. His e-mail is haidari@embassyofafghanistan.org.