Afghan Women and Civil Rights: a success story

by Christina Kaiser

I was working with UNDP for the out-of-country Afghan parliamentary elections in Pakistan in 2005. Out-of-country means that we organised the elections in Pakistan and Iran for the Afghan refugees there. We – a group of approximately 150 people were the ‘elite’ of election organisers at the time. Most of us had started in Bosnia, where for the second time in history elections were being organised by an international body (the first time was in Cambodia).

Election organisation in post-conflict countries is the most fascinating job I have ever had; highly stressful but rewarding. Many doubt the value of such elections arguing that the old miscreants are always elected again, fraud is rampant and they will lead nowhere – certainly not to democracy. But that is not the point. Once you have seen citizens donning their best, carefully storing personal documents in plastic bags and driving on ox carts for sometimes days to the nearest polling station you see the point. People feel that their opinion is finally requested; that they are human beings not merely cogs in an oppressing regime. It makes them feel important and valued. No matter the outcome.

My job was voter education. I went to schools, market stalls, public gatherings organised for just that purpose. It’s difficult. Just to give you an example: I went to a high school to explain about the election procedures, the ID documents required, eligibility, how a polling station works and about secrecy of vote. The latter being the most difficult to explain because people in these countries cannot even imagine such a concept. My Iraqi colleagues explained to me how ‘voting’ went under Saddam Hussein. Ballots under the dictator showed only two options: Saddam Hussein ‘yes’ or ‘no’. One day a man walks into a polling station and decides to be brave: he will vote ‘no’. Leaving the station, his courage suddenly fails him and he rushes back telling a polling station official that he needs his ballot back since he has made a mistake. The official pats him on the back and replies: don’t worry - we’ve already corrected your mistake.

Anyway, the teacher in that high school listened very attentively, nodding all the time and then recapped to show his perfect understanding of the secrecy of vote: “So, there is one ballot box per candidate, kids, you see…”

Islamabad has a substantial Afghan population including a circle of elders who decide everything for the community. They are mostly those long-bearded very dignified men we all know from television. They eventually became my most important audience. I am often asked if the fact that I am a woman did not hinder my task but it didn’t. They did not see me as a woman but as a member of the UN. I was of course dressed appropriately, Shalwar Kamiz and a headscarf.

And then I sat demurely with them for weeks in mud huts and tents until my legs cramped up so badly I thought I’d never get up again. My task: make them let their women vote. Oh God. I didn’t have any strategy; I just followed my education (respect for your elders and other cultures) and my instinct. Which told me to simply listen. And they talked; I learned everything about their culture, thinking, code of conduct. All I did was asking polite questions heading in the direction that it would certainly not harm their culture if women voted. One day they requested that my superior come to see them to show them his respect. He arrived and started to – shout. I was mortified with shame. After that, they only wanted to see me.

It took me a long time but on election-day, the women came – in abundance. I think this was one of the best days of my life. But it got even better. One of the elders, a more modern man without a long beard who was a teacher, was also planning to run for president in the upcoming elections. He stood before me, solemnly shook my hand and said: ‘When I am president, you will be my foreign minister’.

I cried.

Photo: "Women voting afghanistan 2004 usaid" by ALBANA VOKSHI - USAID brochure "Democracy Rising" http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/democracy_and_governance/publications/pdfs/democracy_rising.pdf. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Women_voting_afghanistan_2004_usaid.jpg#/media/File:Women_voting_afghanistan_2004_usaid.jpg