Abstract
When investigating why some countries develop and become prosperous and others remain in poverty and conflict, experts have discovered that women can make the crucial difference. This paper examines the impact of women’s empowerment on a county’s overall development and peacefulness. It analyzes three different dimensions of women’s empowerment, economic, political, and educational, and what the current gender and development literature says about each dimension. The paper also focuses on the positive impact women have on a country’s peace when they are given a seat at the table in post-conflict negotiations. The second half of this paper applies the aforementioned women’s empowerment literature to the case of Afghanistan and argues that women’s economic, political, and educational empowerment is vital to the overall development and continuing peace-building efforts in Afghanistan. In March of 2021, the Afghan government is currently in the process of formal peace talks with the Taliban. With these negotiations, Afghan women’s rights hang in the balance, making this paper’s finding particularly important.
Introduction
When investigating why some countries develop and become prosperous and others remain in poverty and conflict, experts have discovered that women can make the crucial difference. Scholars see a link between increased women’s empowerment and positive outcomes for women, children, and society as a whole.
In Afghanistan, a country many refer to as the archetype of a weak state, peace and development remain uncertainties at the end of 2020. In 2003, shortly after the withdrawal of the Taliban from Afghanistan, scholar Carol Riphenburg declared that “as the rebuilding of Afghanistan begins, the role of women in the process remains a vital issue.”[1] Riphenburg’s declaration is still as true and important today, in 2020, as it was in 2003. This paper will argue that women’s economic, political, and educational empowerment is vital to the overall development and continuing peace-building efforts in Afghanistan.
In order to demonstrate that women’s empowerment is vital to the overall development and stability of Afghanistan, this paper is structured as follows. This paper will first examine the current state of literature studying gender and development, specifically focusing on the impact that political, economic, and educational empowerment of women has on a country’s development. The same section will also examine the impact of women’s involvement in peace-building processes and their ability to create sustained peace. The next section will detail the current situation of women in Afghanistan in 2020 and the gains made since the 2001 withdrawal of the Taliban. The third section examines the implications of the previously discussed gender, development, and peacebuilding literature on Afghanistan’s current situation in 2020. The final section will offer a conclusion.
Gender and Development Literature
To begin, development is an important concept to understand and define. Generally, development can be defined as a certain standard enjoyed by a nation with regards to political stability, economic efficiency, cultural integration, and national consciousness. The definition and global understanding of country development has changed over the years. In 2020, the United Nations explains that “Countries now have agreed that sustainable development – development that promotes prosperity and economic opportunity, greater social well-being, and protection of the environment – offers the best path forward for improving the lives of people everywhere.”[2] A country’s development must be sustainable, which means that future generations will also benefit from the progress made. In more general terms, development encompasses the overall improvement of a country economically, politically, and socially.
Women’s empowerment is another important concept that also needs to be defined. Women’s empowerment is a complex concept and has been defined by scholars in many different ways over the years. For the purpose of this paper, women’s empowerment is defined as, “the process through which women acquire the ability to make strategic life choices in a context where the ability was previously denied to them.”[3] It is important to understand that women’s empowerment is also multidimensional.[4] So, in order for Afghanistan to reach its desired development goals and continue real and enduring peace-building efforts, Afghan women must be empowered politically, economically, and educationally.
Economic Empowerment
First, the current gender and development literature shows that economic empowerment is an important dimension of women’s empowerment. There is extensive research on the impacts of women’s economic empowerment on development. Overall, when women are economically empowered, it promotes gender equality, stimulates the economy, and helps to put countries on track for sustainable development.
One of the most compelling arguments for women’s economic empowerment is simply that women account for half of the world’s working-age population. If half of the world’s workforce is excluded and not contributing significantly to the economy, the overall development of the economy will suffer. A study in 2015 by the McKinsey Global Institute found that in a “full potential” scenario, in which women play an identical role in labor markets to that of men, as much as $28 trillion, or 26 percent, could be added to global annual GDP by 2025. This report shows that the exclusion of women from the labor force is only stunting overall growth and that female inclusion would substantially increase GDP. Even in a “best in region” scenario, where all countries match the fastest improving country in the region, an estimated $12 trillion dollars could be added to global annual GDP by 2025.[5]
Despite these positive findings, currently, no country has gender parity in the labor force.[6] Gender norms and stereotypes force women into roles of unpaid domestic work at much higher rates compared to men. As of 2016, the United Nations reported that, on average, women carry out at least two and a half times more unpaid household and care work compared to men.[7] And, when women are employed in professions equivalent to men, they are often paid less for the same work. The Economic Policy Institute explained that the median woman is paid 83 cents per every dollar the median man is paid.[8] The Pew Research Center reported in 2018 that, although the gender pay gap has narrowed since 1980, globally, women still earn only 85 percent of what men earn on average.[9]
Female economic empowerment is also important for development because it has shown to improve many important development indicators. These indicators include better women’s reproductive health and lower fertility rates. Poor reproductive health and high fertility rates are major concerns, especially for developing countries. The United Nations reported that every day in 2017 approximately 810 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 94 percent of these maternal deaths occurred in low or low-middle income countries.[10] A 2015 study in Tanzania concluded that any increase in a woman’s access to income generating activities can effectively lower women’s reproductive health vulnerability before, during, and after pregnancy.[11]
Lastly, women are less corrupt in labor force settings compared to men. A study by Swamy et al. in 2001 found that women managers are less involved in bribery and that, in hypothetical situations, women are less likely to condone corruption in the workplace.[12] If women are less likely to condone corruption and participate in bribery, the labor force as a whole will benefit, and, in turn, country development will continue to improve.
Political Empowerment
The current gender and development literature demonstrates that increased women’s political empowerment is also a positive driver of development. Women’s political representation has improved significantly over the past decades. Worldwide, female parliament members have increased from 9 percent of parliament members in 1987 to 24.3 percent in 2019.[13], [14] Much of this increase can be attributed to affirmative action type quotas that many countries have put in place to ensure a certain amount of political representation for women. Quota systems open the door for women to participate in politics and help jumpstart their political representation.[15]
There are many arguments as to how women’s political empowerment positively affects a country’s development. First, when women are represented in politics, societies become safer. Higher levels of female participation in parliament reduces the risk of civil war. Given women’s preference for peace and aversion to political violence, a Large-N analysis done by Demerit et al. showed that increases in female parliamentary representation reduces the risk of a country’s relapse into civil war[16]. When no women are represented in the legislature, the risk of relapse increases over time.[17] However, when 35 percent of the legislature is female, this relationship virtually disappears, and the risk of relapse is near zero.[18] Also, when women are influential in decision making processes, they take the lead against extremism and push the political orientation towards a more moderate center.[19] Finally, in terms of political violence perpetrated by the state, statistical analysis shows that the higher the proportion of women in parliaments, the lower the likelihood that the state would carry out human rights abuses such as political imprisonment, torture, killings, and disappearances.[20]
Like in economic settings, increased women’s political empowerment is proven to decrease corruption in politics. Swamy et al. explain that the share of women in parliament affects corruption in two ways.[21] First, since women are less likely to accept bribes, incidences of legislative corruption will be lower where women hold more seats. Also, because women are less likely to condone corruption, female members of parliament may prevent incidences of governmental corruption through the passage of anti-corruption laws, their influence on judicial or executive branch appointments, or by placing corruption on the public agenda.
The political empowerment and representation of women has also been shown to impact policy outcomes. A study of quotas set up in India’s local village councils, which reserves certain seats for women leaders, found that women elected under the reservation policy invest more in the public goods that are more closely linked to women’s concerns. For example, drinking water collection falls heavily on the shoulders of women in India and this chore takes up valuable time and energy each day. In the study, women council leaders were shown to invest more in drinking water improvements.[22] This study shows that women’s political empowerment has positive effects on development even on the local government level.
However, despite these positive findings and the fact that women make up roughly 50 percent of the world’s population, women are still not represented equally in parliaments and government systems around the globe. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report tracks the magnitude of gender-based disparities in economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment since 2006. The 2020 Global Gender Gap Report explained that across the four sub-indexes, on average, women see the largest disparities in political empowerment.[23]
Finally, it is important to stress that political empowerment means more than the number of political positions women hold. It means that once women are elected, nominated, or appointed to leadership positions they are listened to and able to make important political decisions. While gender quotas are a step in the right direction, they often result in women holding seats as tokens.[24] Token women in politics are there for symbolic purposes or to appease the international community. Rarely are these women taken seriously by their male colleagues or permitted to make real political decisions.
Educational Empowerment
Next, the current gender and development literature points to women’s educational empowerment as one of the most important drivers of a country’s development. However, educational empowerment goes beyond simply getting girls in school. The World Bank explains that educational empowerment includes, “ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education acquiring the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; learn the socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world.”[25] According to UNESCO, there are approximately 132 million girls out of school in 2020. These figures include 34.3 million primary school age girls, 30 million lower-secondary school age girls, and 67.4 million upper-secondary school age girls.[26]Even in 2020, girls around the world still face barriers to education such as poverty, cultural norms and practices, and conflict and violence.
Educating women and girls produces important socio-economic gains that benefit the entire society. In 2005, USAID explained that “These benefits include increased economic productivity, higher family incomes, delayed marriages, reduced fertility rate, and improved health and survival rates for infants and children.” The World Bank states that girl’s education is considered one of their most strategic development priorities because educated women can help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty. A study by Ajasa, & Salako in 2015 found a significant positive relationship between educational gender equality and women’s and national transformation.[27]
Increased educational empowerment has also shown to improve economic opportunities available to women. A study in 2013 found that women with at most a primary school education were less likely to be regularly employed, but secondary school and college education increase the probability of having a regular job by 10.3 percent and 25.6 percent respectively.[28] Another study in 2019 confirmed these findings, showing a significant positive relationship between secondary school attendance and labor market participation rate. Both of these studies show that when women receive an education past puberty their participation in the workforce increases.[29]
The educational empowerment of women also improves other country development indicators. These development indicators include lower fertility rates, better infant health and nutrition, and fewer child marriages. For example, a study of maternal education in 175 countries over 40 years concluded that for every extra year a woman spent in school child mortality fell by about 10 percent.[30] Increased education may also help to eliminate childhood, early, and forced marriage. According to the United Nations Population Fund, in 2020, child marriages happen 33,000 times a day all around the world.[31] Compared to lesser educated women, highly educated women tend to marry later;have a higher age at first birth; and have fewer, healthier, and more educated children.[32]
Women and Peacebuilding
Finally, the current gender and development literature demonstrates that women can play a pivotal role in peacebuilding and post-conflict situations. In 2000 Kofi Annan, former secretary-general to the United Nations, said, “For generations, women have served as peace educators, both in families and in their societies. They have proved instrumental in building bridges rather than walls.” [33] Annan’s quote exemplifies the important role that women can play in peace-building efforts when they are included.
Women are vital to peace-building processes because they view peace through a different lens. Although women are less likely to take up arms in conflict situations, they die in higher numbers from the indirect effects of war, such as the breakdown in social order, human rights abuses, the spread of infectious diseases, and economic devastation.[34]Because of this difference in perspective, when women are involved in the peace negotiations, they raise different priorities. A study by Justino et al. showed that women and men have different understandings of peace. Men see peace as the end of formal war, while women see beyond military action, power, troops, and territory to consider social and humanitarian needs that men fail to prioritize.[35] When women participate in peace negotiations, they frequently raise issues of gender equality and women’s rights, which are factors that closely correlate with peace.[36] Women have a special role to play in peacebuilding because they recognize issues of inequality, because they have a stake in reconstruction that is women-friendly, and because of their roles in bridge-building and peace-making.[37]
However, despite these positive findings, women are rarely involved in the peace negotiation process. Between 1992 and 2011, women constituted only 2 percent of peace mediators and 9 percent of peace negotiators in official peace talks.[38] Studies have shown that gender equality is a better indicator of a state’s peacefulness than other factors like democracy, religion, or GDP. As of 2014, 14 of the 17 worst scoring countries of the OECD’s Index for Gender Discrimination had also experienced conflict in the past two decades.[39]
Post-conflict peacebuilding is a difficult task and the literature shows that women make the peacebuilding process less divisive and more effective. A study of 40 peace processes in 35 countries over the last three decades showed that when women were able to effectively influence a peace process, an agreement was almost always reached. And once an agreement was reached, the influence of women’s participation was also associated with much higher rates of implementation. Moreover, when women participate in the peace process, peace is more likely to last. An agreement is 35 percent more likely to last at least 15 years if women were part of its creation. [40]
Lessons Learned
From the current gender and development literature, it is clear that when women are empowered, countries are better off. When women are empowered economically, they help contribute to a country’s overall GDP and increase a number of sustainable development goals. When women are included in politics, societies become safer, less likely to relapse into civil war, and less corrupt. When women are empowered through education, their opportunities in the labor force multiply and human development indicators, like infant mortality, female reproductive health, and marriage age, all improve. Finally, the above gender and development literature shows that women should be included in peace-talks and negotiations because they have a proven record of making peace longer lasting and more successful. The findings from the current gender and development literature are vital in understanding the importance of women’s empowerment in the case of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Case Study
Overview
Afghanistan has been a country in conflict for over forty years. From the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1979, to the rise and fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan has faced many challenges because of this enduring state of war. Fighting destroyed Afghan’s institutions, infrastructure, and economy.[41] Afghanistan is often categorized as a failed state, because it has been too weak to implement effective reforms, provide goods and services to its people, or modernize successfully. In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the violence has only intensified as the Afghan forces and the Taliban continue to clash.
One of the significant challenges Afghanistan currently faces is the empowerment and inclusion of women in the economic, political, and educational systems. Afghanistan is geographically situated in the “patriarchal belt” and exhibits an extreme case of classic patriarchy.[42] Women are subject to forms of control and subordination that include codes of behavior, gender segregation, and the strong association of female virtue with family honor. When the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan in 1996, the country’s problems with women’s rights grew dramatically worse. The longstanding intense patriarchy and the newfound Islamic extremism combined in a way that denied Afghan women of even their most basic rights.[43] Under the Taliban, women were forbidden from receiving an education, required to stay in the home, and forced to wear conservative body coverings called burqas.[44]
However, the problems facing Afghan women were not solely created with the rise of the Taliban, and they have not gone away since their “defeat” in Afghanistan in 2001. The issues facing Afghan women today are deeply rooted in social behaviors and practices.[45] The extent to which Afghan women can exercise their rights, through education, employment and political involvement, is contingent upon the will of their male guardian. Also, women in urban settings benefit from greater security and stability.. While, in rural areas especially, Afghan women still experience the devastation of bloody and intensifying fighting between the Taliban, government forces, and local militias. The majority of Afghan women live in rural areas, and these rural women still face intense subjugation. Today, 75 percent of women live in rural areas and experience the fear of violence instead of enjoying increased political, economic and social empowerment.[46]
Economic Empowerment
Afghanistan is a country with extreme gender disparities in the labor force. The World Bank’s Gender Data Portal reported that the ratio of female to male labor force participation was 28.9 percent in 2019, while the average for “Low Income” counties was 79.3 percent.[47] These figures exemplify just how large the gender gap is in the formal economy of Afghanistan. Much of this gap could be attributed to societal norms and perceptions. For example, a study by UN women showed that only 15 percent of Afghan men think that women should be allowed to work outside of the home after marriage. The same study revealed that in 2020, two out of every three men claim that Afghan women have too many rights under the current constitution.[48] In a society where a woman’s decisions are largely dictated by her father or husband, these important figures reveal the oppressive attitudes towards women in Afghan society.
For the small percent of women who are currently empowered to join the labor force in Afghanistan, economic opportunities are still very limited. Society views teaching and nursing as some of the only acceptable professions. These professions are accepted because they are extensions of women’s classic roles of mothers and caregivers in the home.[49] In 2020, The Asia Foundation’s annual survey found that, according to surveyed Afghan citizens, the two most acceptable places for women to work are “hospitals or clinics” and “female-only schools.”[50] Afghanistan’s strict gender norms and rules also hinder Afghan women’s ability to succeed in the labor force even if they are permitted to work. For example, for every work-related decision, women must first consult a male relative. If women wish to travel outside the home for work, they usually have to be accompanied by a mahram, or male relative escort.[51] Afghanistan’s classic patriarchal society is clearly hindering women’s ability to participate fully and successfully in the economy.
Although the Afghan economy has not been well recorded in the past, scholars still consider Afghanistan to be one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world.[52] According to the World Poverty Clock, in 2020 39 percent of Afghans live in what is classified as “extreme poverty.”[53] In the above literature, scholars have shown that when women are empowered to join the labor force the entire economy benefits. A country like Afghanistan, with a destitute formal economy and extremely low female labor force participation, would benefit significantly from the economic empowerment of women. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the Afghan government has made some efforts toward closing the gender gap in the labor force, but it still has a long way to go. The Asia Foundation explains that the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs, and the Disabled also known as MoLSAMD works to promote international labor standards, including the elimination of gender discrimination in employment and equal pay for women.[54]
Political Empowerment
Under the rule of the Taliban, Afghan women had no political influence or empowerment; however, they have made significant strides in the years since 2001. Scholars like Carol Riphenburg argue that the 2001 Bonn Agreement, which was created in Germany after the withdrawal of the Taliban, was instrumental in creating institutions that made it possible for women to gain a political voice in Afghanistan.[55] For example, from the Bonn Agreement came the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, which has been an important government body for female empowerment. The priorities of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs include training and capacity building for core ministry staff, the establishment of Multi-Service Women’s Centers in all of Afghanistan’s provinces, and the mainstreaming of the women’s rights agenda.
From an external perspective, in 2020 Afghan women appear reasonably politically empowered. The Afghan constitution grants women seats in the body of the Loya Jirga and even established quotas to ensure that 27 percent of the parliamentary seats are reserved for female representatives.[56] It is notable that this quota is higher than both the world and United States’ average for the number of government seats held by women. Also, the number of seats held by women in Afghanistan is comparable to developed and wealthy countries. For example, in 2019, Afghan women held 27.9 percent of seats in the national parliament and countries classified as “High Income” by the World Bank Gender Data Portal averaged 29.0 percent of women in parliament in 2019.[57] It also is important to recognize that the percentage of parliament seats held by women in 2019 surpassed what the quota ensures, meaning that women could be winning additional seats in head to head competition with men. Globally, gender quotas have proven to increase or “jumpstart” female political participation overtime, and from the above data, Afghanistan is following that trend. Data from 145 different countries by Paxton and Hughes showed that gender quotas become increasingly effective over time. Paxton and Hughes suggest that one reason for this increased effectiveness is that gender quotas help to change societal norms and perceptions about women in politics.[58]
However, there appears to be a disconnect in Afghanistan between the number of women in political positions and the positive impacts that should be associated with this level of female political participation. For example, the political empowerment of women has shown to decrease government corruption.[59] However, Afghanistan remains one of the most corrupt nations in the world. According to Transparency International’s “Corruption Perception Index,” one of the most widely used corruption measures, Afghanistan rated number 173 out of 198 countries. The nation scored an abysmal 16/100, where 100 is considered to be entirely ethical and zero is highly corrupt.[60]
Female political empowerment is also supposed to make society safer. However, Afghanistan remains one of the most violent and conflict-ridden countries. Just eight days into In the month of February, 2021, the New York Times Casualty Report wrote that at least 257 pro-government forces and 66 civilians were killed in Afghanistan.[61] There are many theories as to why this disconnect exists in Afghanistan. First, scholars like Niaz Shah argue that the Afghan constitution, while providing some protections for women, works against them by containing discriminatory preconditions for certain political offices and positions, such as a mandatory level of education that many Afghan women cannot attain.[62] Davood Sokhanwar argues that, in many ways, Afghan women face a “glass ceiling” when it comes to their ability to take positions of political leadership.[63] This “glass ceiling” is constructed by a strong cultural and religious mistrust of women.[64]
The Brookings Institute also reported that Afghan women representatives feel systematically marginalized, ignored, patronized, and harassed by their male counterparts during political proceedings and decision making.[65]Women representatives may very well be tokens in the Afghan political system: they may merely be included to appease the international community and internal women’s rights supporters. The problem with “token” female representatives is that they are often unable to influence policy or create real change, which may be why we see a disconnect between female political empowerment and positive country development.
Educational Empowerment
Afghanistan must also focus on female educational empowerment to advance their overall development goals. When the Taliban rose to power in 1996, women and girls were forbidden from receiving education and were confined to their homes. The Taliban use religious justification to legitimize not allowing women to access an education. They claim that that to do so would go against the teachings of Islam. However, advocates for women’s education like Fatima Gailani, explain that this justification shocks her, “Because the first order from Allah is ‘Iqra’, which means ‘Read’. So, when the order from God is to educate yourself, why is there a debate about girls and boys going to school? Our religion allows it.”[66]
Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, women’s education has improved significantly. For example, in 2003, fewer than 10 percent of girls were enrolled in primary school and by 2017 the rate rose to 33 percent[67]. Female secondary school enrollment also grew from 6 percent in 2003 to 39 percent in 2017.[68] The western media often celebrates the successes of Afghan girl’s educational accomplishments. For example, earlier in 2020, Shamsea Alizada achieved the highest score out of nearly 200,000 students on Afghanistan’s national university entrance exam. Her tutoring center was destroyed by a suicide bomber when she was just a junior student. The explosion killed or wounded half of the students in the room, yet Alizada still went on to receive the highest test score of all Afghan students. Shamsea Alizada’s story was picked up by many Western news sources such as The New York Times, creating a feel-good story of progress for women in Afghanistan.[69] However, as positive as these numbers and stories appear, there is still a long way to go for women’s educational empowerment in Afghanistan.
While the Afghan constitution at the end of 2020 mandated education for every child up to ninth grade, many women and girls are still out of school. Today, most parents desire a primary school education for their daughters but still see marriage as the most important goal for their daughter’s future. Most parents see education after puberty as something that would tarnish a girl’s pure, virtuous status. This matter is of particular concern to families because a girl’s integrity is closely associated with family honor. These traditional cultural norms prevent girls from accessing education after the age of 12.
The previously discussed educational empowerment literature shows that the more years of schooling a woman has, the more she, her family, and society as a whole will benefit. In Afghanistan, the Ministry of Higher Education has made a significant effort to make higher education more inclusive and accessible to Afghan women. A study from 2019 explained that “the work to improve conditions for women in higher education, including greater access, financial support, creation of an open and welcoming environment, working to end sexual harassment and tough measures against discrimination and violence; has been very successful” since the fall of the Taliban.[70]
For a country like Afghanistan, one that is still very much in conflict, access to a stable education is difficult for all young people. After 2001, the Afghan Interim Association faced the daunting challenge of rehabilitating and reconstructing a neglected and often physically destroyed education system.[71] Even today there is physical danger associated with attending school in Afghanistan which is even more significant for women and girls. Riphenburg explains that often violent attacks are targeted toward women’s schools or study centers and even against girls wearing school uniforms. Afghanistan has gained ground in advancing women’s rights since the time of the Taliban, but still has far to go in achieving educational empowerment for women. UNICEF reported that, as of 2016, an estimated 3.7 million children were out of school, 60 percent being women and girls.
Women and Peacebuilding
Currently, the role of women in the peacebuilding process is of the utmost importance in Afghanistan. Formal negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban started in Doha, Qatar in September of 2020. These negotiations are intended to put a stop to the conflict between the Taliban and government forces and set Afghanistan on a path toward peace for the first time in forty years. According to experts, there is currently no realistic prospect of the Afghan government defeating the Taliban militarily. So, in order to avoid an even more prolonged and bloody war, the Taliban and the Afghan government must sit down at the negotiating table. Fatima Gailani, one of the female Afghan negotiators explains, “I am optimistic about these talks, it is our only chance to find a peaceful solution.”[72]
These negotiations are also particularly important for the fate of women’s rights and empowerment in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, an open letter from over 400 diverse Afghan women to the Taliban addressed their fears that the ground women have gained since 2001 could be lost if the Taliban were to have too much negotiating power. This letter criticizes the Taliban’s strict adherence to Sharia law, as well as the devastatingly high illiteracy rate among Afghan women.[73]
The Afghan government appointed a 21-member negotiating team, including five women, to send to the talks in Doha. President Ashraf Ghani also established the High Council for National Reconciliation, which was created as a higher body that supervises, monitors, and directs the negotiating team. Out of the 46 members appointed to serve on the council 9 are women. It is a positive sign to see women included on both of these negotiating groups; however, many are not totally convinced. According to The Asia Foundation’s 2020 survey, the representation of women in the peace talks has been a strong area of discussion among many national observers. Only 24.9 percent of respondents indicated that they think women will be represented well in peace talks.[74] The women appointed to these bodies are mostly educated women from urban areas. The women appointed to the negotiating team are a strong group who have survived assassination attempts and many have risked their lives running underground schools during the time of the Taliban’s rule.[75]
The Brookings Institute explains that these women are expected to take a hard stand against the Taliban and oppose any constitutional and social changes that may significantly reduce the formal rights that Afghan women have gained over the past 20 years.[76] However, it is difficult for five Afghan women to represent every woman in the country. Fawzia Koofi, another woman on the Afghan negotiating team, explains, “Sometimes I do get so nervous and overwhelmed because, as women in the negotiating team, we have a responsibility to represent the women of Afghanistan and with that comes a lot of challenges.”[77] In Afghanistan, women, like men, are victims of military onslaughts and terrorist activities. But unlike men, women are also victims of gender-based violence and under both the Mujahidin and the Taliban have suffered violent action over appearance, dress, and access to the public sphere. Women in rural areas experience the brunt of much of this violence. Some rural women have reported that in terms of these Afghan-Taliban negotiations, their preferences lean heavily towards a desire for peace, even if it means sacrificing some of the formal rights women have been granted.
The Taliban has also appointed a negotiating team, but they have sent no women to the peace negotiations in Doha. In fact, the Brookings Institute explains that there is an absence of women’s representation in the Taliban governing structures, political offices, and all other leadership positions.[78] The Taliban’s official statement on the subject of women is that they will protect women’s rights under Sharia law. However, this vague statement could produce a variety of different outcomes in reality. For example, Sharia law takes many forms around the world like the conservative interpretation in Saudi Arabia to a more modern, permissive version of Sharia law in parts of Indonesia.[79] Increased Taliban political control will most likely weaken women’s rights, further tighten cultural restrictions on women, and decrease their already small number of socio-economic opportunities.
Ultimately, it is imperative that women have an influential role in these peace negotiations. The women and peacebuilding literature discussed above clearly explains that when women are able to have a hand in peacebuilding and post-conflict negotiations, the results are more successful and longer lasting. Also, during negotiations, women have shown that they advocate for other underrepresented groups. Afghan women have already proven to be advocates. For example, women in the Constitutional Assembly that convened in 2003 and 2004 advocated for the rights of the disabled and even supported the Uzbek minority’s efforts to gain official recognition for their language.[80] The statistics from the above literature makes it clear that Afghan women should be given an influential role in the current peace talks if the country wants to see a successful resolution to nearly half a century of war.
Conclusion
The gender and development literature above has shown that women’s economic, political and educational empowerment makes countries better. When women are empowered, societies become richer, safer, healthier, and more inclusive. It is important to remember that the areas of economic, political, and educational empowerment are all interconnected. Work to improve empowerment must include efforts in all of these areas.
While the country has made gains since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan still has a long way to go in empowering women. Each area of study, economic, political, and educational, illustrates severe gender disparities for women. In order for Afghanistan to develop successfully, the country must empower its female citizens. This task is easier said than done, especially in an extremely conservative and patriarchal society like Afghanistan.
In 2020, Afghanistan is a particularly important place to study gender and development literature. After 40 years of conflict, the country is finally at the negotiating table with the Taliban in search of peace. It is imperative that women have not only a place but also a voice at the negotiating table. When women are empowered in peace processes, the rate of success soars. One major concern is that Afghan female leaders and negotiators are there as tokens, to appease the international community and women’s rights advocates at home. When tokenism occurs, women are brushed to the side and not able to truly influence the process. For successful peace and continued development in Afghanistan, the country’s leaders must enact substantive change that will empower women economically, politically, and educationally.
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