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Afghanistan has a very rugged geography and is populated by a variety of ethnic , religious and tribal groups- all of which have unique cultural norms and traditions. Much of the country lacks fixed residences, making exact demographic statistics difficult to obtain, but in 2014 the population is estimated at 31.8 million, with a 2.6% annual growth rate. 75% of the population is rural- less than 10% reside in the six most populated cities. The ethnic dynamics, traditional and patriarchal culture, Islamic framework for societal values and informal justice systems, and resultant strict gender roles create a myriad of deficits and gender disparities in most facets of life for women in Afghanistan.

Global Rankings and Statistics

''United Nations Development Programme'' Human Development Reports: Table 4. Gender Inequality Index

• 2012 Gender inequality Index
  • Rank: 147/148
  • Value: 0.712
• 2012 Seats in National Parliament: 27.6 percent held by females
  • 27 percent of seats are constitutionally appropriated to be held by female representatives
• 2011 Labor Force Participation Rate
  • Female: 15.7 percent
  • Male: 80.3 percent
• 2010 Maternal Mortality Ratio: 460/ 100,000 live births
• Adolescent Fertility Rate: 99.6 births/ 1,000 women age 15-19
• 2010 Population with at least a secondary education
  • Female: 5.8 percent
  • Male: 34 percent
• 2010 Average years of schooling for females: 1.840

Historical Trends

• Modern Afghan monarchies took some measures to change laws that were especially detrimental to the value and welfare of women in the early 20^th century. Emir Abdur Rahman Khan formally abolished a custom forcing a women to marry the next of kin of her deceased husband, raised the age of marriage and gave women rights to a divorce under some specific circumstances, as well as some rights to property held by their husbands and fathers. Much of the progress during this era has been attributed by experts to the emir's wife, Bobo Jan. She was the country's first queen to appear in public without the traditional veil and had political and military interests. While Abdur Rahman Khan viewed women as subservient to men, he held the position that they deserved "just treatment".

• His son, Habibullah Khan, ruled from 1901 until his assassination in 1919. Habibullah continued the progressive policies; his wives were commonly seen unveiled in public and he established a ceiling on the extravagant weddings that were a common source of poverty for families.

• When Habibullah was assassinated, his son Amanullah took power after staging a coup that ousted Habibullah's brother, Nasrullah, ending his week-long reign. This signified the modernization of Afghanistan. Amir Amanullah’s agenda for modernization included freeing women from traditional tribal cultural rules, his enthusiasm and persistence stemming from international modernization efforts and observations. Among his efforts were public campaigns against the veil and polygamy; he also publicly encouraged the education of girls in all regions of the country- not only in urban Kabul but also in the rural countryside and tribal regions.

• Mahmud Tarzi was an influential force of encouragement for Amanullah’s efforts. Tarzi valued monogamy, female education and employment- his female family members and their unveiled public appearances set an example for implementing changes. His daughter, Soraya, married Amanullah- another daughter married his brother. According to Dr. Huma Ahmed Ghosh, “Thus, it is not surprising that Tarzi’s sophisticated and liberal intellectual ideology blossomed and concretely embedded itself in Amanullahs reign.”

• Amanullah's efforts to bring Islamic and modernized state policies were too rapid and radical for conservative citizens in rural regions. By 1928, tribal leaders had grown restless and joined together to protest the new freedoms exercise by women in Kabul- modernization hadn't reached rural areas beyond. The opposition of the Loya Jirga forced the Amir to rescind some policies and conform to a more traditional agenda. Schools were shut down and women had to revert to wearing the veil.

• In 1929, Amanullah was ousted, Mohammed Nadir Shah took power for four years until being assassinated, when Mohammed Zahir Shah took power and held it for the next four decades. Women's issues came back under consideration mid-century, when modernizing efforts emphasized a need for economically active women. By mid-century veiling had been declared optional. The third Constitution gave women the right to participate in elected politics and the first woman Minister was elected to Parliament in 1964. The next year the Democratic Organization of Afghan Women (DOAW) and the Soviet-backed People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) were established, the former aimed to combat illiteracy, ban forced marriages, and "do away with bride price."

• The 1970's were time of intensive social reform- overseen by the PDPA. Widespread literacy programs were introduced and women saw more representation in Parliament and education. A decree in 1978 was intended to ensure equal rights for women, but the rapid pace of social change was too much for the mullahs and tradition-oriented tribal leaders and met with a violent response. Women in western clothes were shot, female social workers faced unbearable harassment, and PDPA reformers were killed in rural regions. "“The PDPA'’s use of force in bringing the changes to fruition, combined with a brutal disregard for societal and religious sensitivities, resulted in massive backlash from the rural population" according to Peter Marsden in The Taliban: War and Religion in Afghanistan.

• From 1979 to 1989, when the Soviets left Afghanistan, the country was embroiled in a decade long war fueled by foreign political interests and aid. Rural unrest and traditional opposition gave the Mujahideen the support to incite a revolutionary army with the direct emphasis on reversing the gains in women's empowerment and restoring traditional Islamic rule. When they took over Kabul in 1992 and declared the country an Islamic state, women were increasingly prohibited from the public sphere. In conservative areas, they were only allowed in public if covered head to toe with only a slit for the eyes. Dr. Ahmed-Ghosh noted this time was only the beginning of the apartheid against women in Afghanistan. The Mujahideen burned universities and libraries, and the period was rife with new levels of brutal and sexual violence against women- so much so that young women viewed suicide as a preferable option to the rapes, amputations, forced marriages, and other barbaric forms of violence and disfigurement through 1996, according to Ahmed-Ghosh. That year, the same foreign influences shifted support to the Taliban to counter the mujahideen. At this point, women were confined to their homes with little exception and not without a ''mahram'' (male relative acting as escort). Wearing the ''burqa'' was mandated and fancy shoes or make-up forbidden.

• When power shifted again in 2001, little relief became the oppressed women of Afghanistan. Through NGO and foreign aid involvement, some rights have been secured in the last decade, but underlying de-valuation of women that leads to the gender disparities in rights and freedoms remains. Even during the eras of progressive action for social reform, impacts were primarily confined to the Kabul region- the rural majority was largely unaffected. Another issue facing women's empowerment in Afghanistan has been the entitlement and well-intentioned but ignorant fascination with traditional artifacts stereotypically associated with the oppression of women like the burqa- overshadowing the issues that are most important to Afghan women and feminists like education and health.

Role of Tradition

The female societal position is integral to many of the Afghan societal values; they are the standard for morality and passing on those values in a stringently patriarchal society. Social status is determined largely by honor, and family is the single most important institution to honor. Most of the population lives in the rural countryside or tribal regions and live a culturally traditional life, which means that most of the women in Afghanistan are culturally subordinate to men and the fundamental value disparity allows women to be perpetually oppressed and, in some circumstances, violently deprived of rights and capabilities. While tradition demands "respecting" women, their empirically devalued position and expectation to bring honor to their family contribute to strict gender roles that constrain the lives of many Afghan women.

Islamic Law

The Quran has many conflicting and specific scriptures regarding women and their role in an Islamic society. Fundamentally, women are subordinated and exist a class below men, as explicitly stated is sura 2, ayah 228. Interpretations of the Quran and sharia law constrain the lives of women to domestic and reproductive responsibilities, of which they are required to submit to the will of their husband. Obedience and subservience are required; sharia law gives women little control over their lives and bodies. Sura 4 explicitly states that men are to control women: because they are inherently better than women, and because they are responsible to use their resources to support them. In the same verse, ayah 34, the righteous women is defined by obedience to her husband and male authority figures.

• Virginity and "purity" are highly valued, so much so that its absence devalues and dishonors women subject to patriarchal rule.
• Along the same lines, menstruation is vilified and men are implored to keep themselves away. This deeply embedded ignorance negatively impacts women and their health by equation of healthy bodily processes unique to women, to a disgusting affliction.
• Women are construed as resources to use and abuse at will- men are implored to do what they please to their wives, as they belong to their husbands and must honor and submit to him.
• Many verses surround the issue of the reproductive and intimate responsibilities, extreme interpretations allow for marital rape, but nearly any adherence abolishes any control or power women have over their body or sexual and reproductive capabilities.
• At the same time, any "lewdness" displayed by a women, to be interpreted at will, should result in the confinement until death or other fate ordained by Allah (to be carried out by the wronged or representative jirga).

See also: Women in Islam

See also: Muslim Female Political Leaders: Islamic Texts

Tribal Laws

The lives of women have been drastically and negatively affected by tribal power plays and conflicts over ethnic dominance, routinely used as capital and disposable resources. Gender roles have been shaped by tribal laws and sanctions, sometimes disregarding Sharia and constitutional laws. Especially for women in rural regions of the country, lives and decisions are dictated by patriarchal tribal regimes and "kinship arrangements" which allow men to exercise untempered power over women.

Formal Justice

The formal justice system in Afghanistan has been historically underdeveloped and the rights it guarantees have failed to benefit women in the rural areas the national government has failed to reach- the influence of both has been largely confined to urban Kabul and surrounding area. Years of political instability, civil unrest, and foreign occupation have left the institution unstable and underdeveloped. Women within the legal system are rare, found only in the very urban areas within the system's reach.

With the end of the most recent Taliban regime came a new constitution that secured equal rights under the law for men and women. The reach of the formal system is expanding, and there have been significant gains in female political representation- by 2005, women had been elected to more seats in the lower house than the constitutionally allocated 27 percent. While the impact is still limited to places under the influence of the national government, excluding many rural regions, these recent developments have empowered Afghan women.

Informal Justice

In countries like Afghanistan, fractured by stronger ethnic and tribal loyalties than national, informal, traditional justice systems are more valued by the populace than their formal counterparts due to their roots in community values. The jirgas are given unspoken authority as they relieve a fiscal burden from the national government and have long-standing reverence. However, one crucial factor prevents the assemblies from truly arbitrating justice- the fundamental exclusion of women from participation. When women are left without a voice in the primary forum for justice and community participation, they are left without means to protect themselves from the culturally prevalent patriarchal suppression and subjection. The all-male assemblies are naturally inclined to favor and conform to traditional gender disparities.

The tribal dynamics and patriarchal culture are underlined by the intense devotion to Islam nation-wide. The constitution dictates that no laws in Afghanistan can contradict sharia, or Islamic law. The framework it creates is responsible for the resistance to change- away from the traditional and informal justice systems that are disengaged from the empowerment of women as a generality. Because their influence is not formally granted, but accepted on the whole as divine prescription, changes within the jirgas or shifts away from their patriarchal tendencies will have to be rooted in the participants. Until that shift in consciousness occurs on a national scale, women will remain deprived of the protections and freedoms secured by the newest constitution.

Seven Types of Inequality

Amartya Sen identifies seven specific areas illustrative of gender inequality in "Many Faces of Gender Inequality." He acknowledges that "[g]ender inequality exists in most parts of the world...not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems." Those disparities and problems afflict women in Afghanistan more severely than nearly any other region, as indicated by a 147^th place ranking in the 2012 Gender Inequality Index (out of 148 ranked).

Mortality

According to the United Nations Development Programme's most recent statistics, the female mortality rate in 2010 was 352, implying that more than 35 percent of 15 year-old females will die before age 60. While there is no notable gender disparity in mortality rates, women face threats of sexual violence, disfigurement, execution, and a myriad of other brutalities that Afghan men simply do not by nature.

Devaluation of women in a fundamentally patriarchal culture subordinates them to Afghan males, deprioritizing their needs, especially in regard to health and medical access. There is little to no pre- or post-natal care for a large majority of Afghan women due to lack of access or financial ability. As a result, giving birth is one of the most dangerous events in the life of an Afghan woman, according to Save the Children- 1 in 50 women die from pregnancy-related causes. Through the efforts of NGO's and foreign aid alliances, progress has been made but rates remain high.

The health and welfare of children is undeniably contingent on that of women, and with the inarguable deficiencies in the treatment and valuation of women, children suffer. Malnutrition and other childhood health issues are directly attributable to the inadequate access to health care and resources for Afghan women. The high infant mortality rate (over ten percent) and childhood death rates (nearly fifteen percent of children die before age five) are unfortunate but very real consequences of the gender disparities and subjection of women in the traditional society.

Natality

Basic Facility

On the issue of basic facility inequality, Sen says, "Afghanistan may be the only country in the world the government of which is keen on actively excluding girls from schooling..." Additional deficiencies in basic facility equality vary in forms of participation and developmental encouragement. The average Afghan woman has 1.840 years of schooling- 79.41 percent over age 15 have none at all. According to UNDP data reports, 5.8 percent of women have at least a secondary education, as opposed to 34 percent of the male population, a sizable disparity.

Special Opportunity

Trends seem to be shifting, 11.25 percent of women age 15-19 have completed secondary education, more than twice the average female rate of completed secondary education (5.55 percent). There is still significant room for improvement however, as less than two percent of Afghan women have attained tertiary education. Males are still seen as a more worthy investment, as a result of long-standing gender roles that undervalue women outside of the household. While modern Afghan women are not barred from public appearance as they have been in the past opportunities beyond the domestic sphere remain limited.

Professional

Ownership

Household