Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 15:55:53 -0500 From: Cathy Rakowski <rakowski.1 at osu.edu> To: osuwid at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Friday, December 14, 2001
1. How Are Women in Post-conflict Kosovo Facing Economic Development?
Report on the "Women and the Economy" Conference held in Kosovo
By Joanna Kerr, AWID Executive Director
2. What is the Future of Afghan Women Under Afghanistan's New Transitional Government?
Report from "An Evening With Dr. Sima Samar", a recent AWID public meeting held with Afghanistan's new woman Deputy Prime Minister
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1. How Are Women in Post-conflict Kosovo Facing Economic Development?
Report on the "Women and the Economy" Conference held in Kosovo
By Joanna Kerr, AWID Executive Director
Since the war ended in 1999, Kosovo has emerged from a period of emergency to reconstruction and now looks towards longer term sustainable development. The women and men of this post-conflict Yugoslav province and UN protectorate (currently governed by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) with reconstruction being managed by the OSCE, European Union and other UN bodies) look forward to a time in the near future of political and economic independence and security.
Two weeks ago, I attended a conference on "Women and the Economy" from November 29-30 in Prishtina. This event was the first large gathering of women and men to focus on this issue since the war. Almost 300 participants from all over the region (including Albanian, Bosnian, Serbian, Turkish and Romanian women and men) from NGOS, government, the media and the donor community gathered in Kosovo's capital in order to understand current economic changes and develop key strategies for the future. Given that Kosovar leaders along with the international community are pushing Kosovo towards an open market-led economy, my role was to share insights of economic restructuring process globally, their impact on women, and how women are responding.
The goal of the conference was to analyze women's role in the economy, but ultimately engage policy makers and donors to ensure women contribute to, benefit from the economic changes ahead. But the economy is not strong in this region, with very high unemployment rates, inadequate energy supplies, a poor state of infrastructure, and struggling mining and agriculture industries. With domestic output estimated at US$750 per head, Kosovo is among one of the poorest regions of Europe.
The gender inequalities are also profound. For instance, only 6% of small businesses are owned by women. Only 50% of girls between the ages of 15-18 are in school (compared to 75% of boys). Trafficking in women, both within and outside of Kosovo has dramatically increased with almost 85 brothels operating (in a region of roughly 2 million people) each taking in approximately $400,000 per year. Sexual harassment and discrimination in employment is commonplace where job ads, for example, often specify that only attractive women apply. Formal employment strategies, too, are emphasizing gender stereotyped women's income generating projects such as training in hairdressing and sewing.
Despite all these challenges, the women's movement in Kosovo is thriving and well-organized. This conference is just the first of many initiatives planned to influence economic policies and policymakers, particularly within the new elected body that exists as of November (designed to give substantial autonomy to the province). As such, some of the concrete recommendations to come out of this landmark meeting included:
* the creation of an institutional map and advocacy strategy to both understand and influence the new transitional administration as Kosovo shifts from an UNMIK led territory to one with its own parliament; * specific policy recommendation to improve microcredit programs and lending policies in order to increase women's access to financial capital (in many programs women are less than ten percent of the beneficiaries); * specific recommendations for the Ministry of Education to improve girls education at all levels; * creation of the first ever network for women entrepreneurs to serve as a forum for capacity building, information sharing, lobbying and a channel through which to build relations with the external community; and a, * commitment to develop a gender budget, building on lessons learned from other countries.
For more information on the Women in the Economy meeting and follow up please contact the organizing committee c/o Star Network, email:starkosovo at yahoo.com
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2. What is the Future of Afghan Women Under Afghanistan's New Transitional Government?
Report from "An Evening With Dr. Sima Samar", a recent AWID public meeting held with Afghanistan's new woman Deputy Prime Minister
On Thursday, December 13, AWID held a public meeting in Toronto, Canada with Dr. Sima Samar, the new Deputy Prime Minister of the transitional Afghan government formed at the recent United Nations summit in Germany. Dr. Samar was also appointed Minister of Women's Affairs. She is one of two women in the cabinet of the government which is scheduled to last six months. During the meeting, Dr. Samar discussed her work as an activist, the oppression of women in Afghanistan and the many challenges facing the new government. In this first of a two part series, the Friday File presents highlights of her talk focusing on her background as a women's rights activist and her views on the situation of women in Afghanistan.
In her talk, Dr. Samar detailed the many initiatives she has undertaken to defend women's rights both in Afghanistan itself and the Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan. Currently, she runs four hospitals and ten medical clinics in Afghanistan. She also runs a hospital in the refugee camp of Quetta, Pakistan and several schools for young women in both areas. These schools together educate more than 21 000 people. In addition, her activities in Quetta also include computer training for women as well as a co-ed college which trains women and men as medical assistants and paramedics. Finally, she runs various income generating projects for women in Quetta.
While providing education and health care may sound like the minimal response to women's needs, in recent years in Afghanistan this type of work was considered radical. Dr. Samar noted in her talk that when she started working in the women's branch of a hospital in a refugee camp, the opening hours were only from 8AM until 2PM. One day, a woman arrived in labour outside of these opening hours for the women's branch and, because they could not open, she died. Following this incident, Dr. Samar started a hospital for women. Since beginning this work, she has received many death threats while her hospital in Afghanistan has been looted three times. Her schools, when she first began them, offered classes under trees.
However, she noted that it is not only Afghan authorities and political groups that have ignored the rights of women. She recounted an incident with the representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Afghanistan which had begun development projects following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union in 1989. Dr. Samar was concerned that the UNDP had not established projects for women and asked the representative about this fact. He responded that there was no programming for women because he had not seen any women in the country. "If the UN is thinking about women in this way," Dr. Samar noted, "what can we expect from our own leaders?"
Nevertheless, she insisted that women's rights in Afghanistan have not always been curtailed to the degree they were under the Taliban regime. She mentioned that she herself studied medicine in her country and that under the constitution of the 1960's women could go to school, choose what to wear, be elected to Parliament and become members of the cabinet. "Fundamentalism is not in Afghan culture," she said. "It's clearly in Islam that women and men should be educated. The people in Afghanistan were held hostage by them [the Taliban] and the international community closed its eyes."
Dr. Samar argued in her talk that many of the changes that occurred in Afghanistan such as the decline of women's status were a result of the Russian invasion of the country in 1979. She noted that the pro-Russian government which the Russian army was sent in to defend implemented many reforms that were not compatible with Afghan culture such as changes to the education system. At the same time, the Russian army focused its attacks on the rural areas of Afghanistan. These rural areas had very little infrastructure while those government services that did exist, such as schools, were destroyed by Russian bombs.
The Afghan resistance movement soldiers, the mujahideen, filled this gap in services by providing education in these areas and, consequently, were able to recruit more people into their movements. Dr. Samar noted that the mujahideen factions were only slightly less fundamentalist and oppressive towards women than the Taliban. The schools they ran were religious fundamentalist schools and, of course, open to men only. Those attending the schools were integrated into the factions fighting the Russians and given few opportunities to see their families. Thus, Dr. Samar made the point that the power of the fundamentalist movements is a new phenomenon in Afghan society and is a product of the Cold War.
During her talk, Dr. Samar emphasized the fact that she is not a politician. "I'm personally not interested in politics," she said. "I love to do my work. I will continue my work to push for women's rights. I believe that if I am not in power I can have a louder voice because it's really easy to criticize somebody." She also pointed out that she was appointed to her new position as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Women's Affairs. "I cannot claim that I am the representative of women in Afghanistan," she said, responding to audience questions about concrete measures she will take to improve the status of women.
She further noted that the government she is a part of is only scheduled to last six months and the fact that she is only one of two women in a cabinet of thirty members. When asked if her government will be in favour of Sharia law (a particular form of Islamic law), she responded quite plainly "I personally am not in favour of Sharia law but I don't know how much power I will have in the new government."
Clearly, it was evident during the talk that Dr. Samar was surprised by her appointment and that, while she is eager to work for change in her country, the new government faces innumerable challenges that can only be addressed over time. She also welcomed audience members' concerns for the plight of women in her country. However, she mentioned several times that she needs help from activists and from the international community in order to ensure her impact in the government. In addition, she requested expatriate Afghans to return home to help rebuild the country. To one Afghan woman who praised Dr. Samar's work and emotionally highlighted the need to fight for women's rights she responded "come back." -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Anti-War Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>