If the Taliban are not going to be defeated outright, will the progress made on women's rights be traded away? Three experts took a crack at this question with Robert Lamb, CSIS senior fellow with the Post-Conflict Reconstruction program moderating.
- Gayle Temach Lemmon, Journalist and author of forthcoming the Dressmaker of Khair Khana.
- Farishta Sakhi, Afghan who had worked with UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and ea variety of NGO experience.
- Ambassador Karl F. Inderfurth, now a professor at GW.
All agreed that progress had been made during the occupation, but not as much progress as one might have hoped. Education of both women and men is the key to further positive moves. Even so respect for women's human rights was under threat from the peace process and those, such as myself, favorably inclined towards a rapid exit. These fears were widely expressed by women they spoke to inside Afghanistan. Feelings towards the negotiations were mixed but it was widely agreed that women need to have a literal seat at the negotiation table. On this point, Lemmon argued that "half the country isn't a special interest group." Religious leaders should also have a seat at the table, although Sakhi did argue the national solidarity program provides a good model by incorporating mullahs but making sure the events are led by people with strong democratic credentials. Beyond the negotiations, other threats to women include rampant crime, an informal justice system biased against them, and a lack of services that has left Afghanistan with the second highest maternal mortality rate in the world.
Lemmon had went to research female entrepreneurs, some of whom had managed to support their households even when the Taliban was at its height. Critics say that she focused on exceptional cases, but she argues that programs on gender relations comes from the exceptions.. The panel was supportive of aid in an attempt to empower females, particularly entrepreneurs, but as always seems to be the case was not impressed with how it was delivered. One notable program that Lemmon had described and written up in a NY Times article was a popular local sourcing initiative that had brought local women onto a military base to educate them on how to navigate U.S. contract regulations. That said, on a different point, Sakhi mentioned that a weakness of PRTs was that going onto U.S. bases was stigmatized.
Ambassador Iderfurth mentioned some interesting numbers on female progress. Females made up 430 of the 2500-some candidates for the parliamentary elections, and he'd been highly impressed by outspoken female parliamentary candidates. In monetary terms the budget for female-focused programs is 153 million in FY09 but the surge of new troops was accompanied by only a small jump to $179 million in FY2010. Lemmon: Education, for both women and men. She's often accused of profiling the exceptions. But the exceptions make the rules.
The event is being recorded and will be available on the CSIS website.
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