NEWS

3 January 2006

AFGHAN WOMEN RISE TO TOP AFTER TALIBAN REPRESSION

Since the fall of the Taliban and the establishment of the government of President Hamid Karzai, Afghan women have become a significant presence on the country's political and social stages. That was made evident in December, when 68 women took their seats as deputies in the lower house of Afghanistan's new parliament. Seventeen women will also sit in the upper house. Women still have trouble participating as equals in all spheres of the country's social and political life, but progress is being made. RFE/RL spoke with a number of Afghan women in positions of influence.

Kabul, 28 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Habiba Sorabi was the minister of women's affairs in Afghanistan before becoming the first-ever female governor of Bamiyan Province. She says her political activities started when she was a university student, and that it has been a struggle.

"In a traditional and patriarchal society like Afghanistan, where men have always had the first word, made the decisions, given orders, and treated women as second-rate citizens who should obey them 100 percent like slaves, it is not easy for women to be in politics," Sorabi says.

Decades Of Obstacles

Afghan women have experienced various forms of oppression throughout the country's history, but it was especially intense during the Taliban era. The Taliban regime denied women all rights to education and employment and severely restricted their activities in public, including making them wear the all-covering burqa.

Some Afghan women continued their political activities in the neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan and occasionally returned to Afghanistan under the cover of the burqa to meet with people.

Sima Samar was the first minister of the newly established Ministry of Women's Affairs in the transitional government of Hamid Karzai after the fall of Taliban. She is now the head of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and a UN special rapporteur for human rights in Sudan.

In a recent interview, Samar shared with RFE/RL's Afghan Service one of her experiences during the time of communist rule.

"I think if I talk about all the problems I would feel the pressure now," Samar says. "During Khalq Party rule, they arrested my husband, along with his three brothers, who I never saw after that. Sixty-four people from my family were arrested. I spent Fridays, when I should have been studying, behind Pol-e Charkhi [prison] doors [visiting my relatives]."

Perseverance Pays

Afghan women say cultural and social constraints could not prevent them from assuming leadership positions.

"Afghan women proved in a short time that, not only on a national level but internationally, too, that they can take part in political activities," says Zahida Ansari, who is Afghanistan's new ambassador to Bulgaria. "In diplomacy, too, there is no problem [for women to handle the jobs]. You know that an ambassador's job, as the representative of the president, is to defend government policy and the rights of citizens in a foreign country within international law. It is a very important job and a big responsibility."

Mas'uda Jalal, Afghanistan's first female presidential candidate, says she persevered and didn't let cultural restrictions get in her way.

"My work, and what I did for the presidential campaign, didn't seem very difficult to me," Jalal says. "Other than long hours of work -- and I have worked more than 18 hours a day for several years -- there was no problem."

There are many Afghan women who say they would like to work in the social and political spheres but who believe they cannot do so because of family and social concerns. The Afghan women who are already involved in the nation's political activities say their families fully support them.

"Fortunately, I have not faced problems from my family," Bamiyan Governor Sorabi says. "They have been supportive. But in some cases, other relatives other than my husband have spread gossip and passed along negative remarks. But in Afghan society, there will be such talk."

Jalal, who is currently Afghanistan's minister of women's affairs, also says she has the full support of her family.

"My husband is optimistic about my goals. He has confidence in me," Jalal says. "Inside, at home, I never feel that I am a minister. I am a mother and wife for my husband. And at work, I work in that position."

Source: The Times of Central Asia

3 January 2006

WOMEN INCREASE PRESENCE IN KAZAKHSTAN'S BUSINESS SECTOR

In 1998, Kazakhstan ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Since then, some powerful Kazakh women have emerged in various fields, including the traditionally male-dominated business sector. In this second of a four-part series, RFE/RL examines the situation of women in Kazakhstan through the prism of three Kazakh businesswomen.

Prague, 29 December 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Following its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan moved toward a market economy, and it has been developing rapidly ever since, due in large part to considerable foreign investment.

Official statistics also suggest that the negative balance for women -- who represent 51 percent of the country's 15 million people -- might be evening out. Forty percent of all women are registered managers of private businesses, according to those figures.

Forty-year-old Saltanat Rakhymbekova is the head of the Business and Industry Department for Kazakhstan's central Karaganda region. She credits the Kazakh government with implementing a proper "gender policy."

"For example, in the Karaganda region alone, there are lots of women who hold managerial posts," Rakhymbekova says. "This is the result of the Kazakh government, which is carrying out a proper gender policy. Women's skills and initiatives are being taken into consideration. I think that if women are eager to do their best to succeed, all the necessary conditions are created for them in the country."

Rakhymbekova spends much of her time at work but says that, like other women, she likes to spend every spare minute with her family, including her husband, a technical scientist, and their two daughters. She is herself from what she describes as an ordinary Kazakh family, albeit one with 10 children.

"First of all, I am lucky that I was born in Kazakhstan," Rakhymbekova says. "I appreciate my parents, who educated me. I studied at a university where 90 percent of students were men. My husband always understands me and supports all my efforts."

Bucking A Trend?

Sabyrkul Asanova, 50, is a successful Kazakh businesswoman. She is president of the Symbat Fashion Academy, which is a leader in the country's fashion industry. Asanova is highly respected for her business acumen -- and pleased with what she has achieved so far.

"I always worked hard, and now I am successful," she explains simply.

Asanova says she is satisfied with what she has built. And while some are tempted to parlay such entrepreneurial success into political influence, she insists she is not eager to become involved in politics.

"If we, women, have something to do, we try to work tirelessly," Asanova says. "While men spend 10 minutes smoking, women use that time to work. I think it is impossible to have lots of women in power, however, because, in principle, women were created for a family or to give birth to babies."

Flower Power

Forty-five-year-old Gozel Kulzhanova -- who has a daughter, two sons, and a grandchild -- works in a completely different sphere. She owns a floral-decoration company called Gulistan that works on buildings, offices, and private homes. The partnership appears to be the only company in Kazakhstan that is focused specifically on the service.

Kulzhanova has sought to leverage that expertise, recently founding a magazine titled "Gulistan" that is about the planting of flowers and other plants:

"My job is very interesting," she says. "I'm happy when I see the results of my work. I think that if a person finds his favorite job, he is happy."

Kulzhanova says she wants Kazakhstan to be among the most beautiful countries in the world.

Still Struggling

The lives of many women in Kazakhstan remain bleak, however.

A Kazakh economist, Aytqali Nurseyit, notes that women still face obstacles in the country, and he says many women lost their jobs during the transition to a market economy. But he points out that Kazakhstan's economy has grown strongly in recent years and argues that the situation of Kazakh women is changing, too:

"What is unique about Kazakhstan, or Kazakh women, is that about 40 percent of Kazakh women have their own businesses. This is very good," Nurseyit says. "Kazakh women also play a key role in the fields of education, science, and health care."

According to the United Nations Development Program's "Human Development Report," at present, female economic activity is 81-86 percent of that of men in the five Central Asian countries. It is equal to the rate in Russia, whereas in Pakistan the rate is 44 percent.

Source: The Times of Central Asia