Afghan women took to the streets in Kabul yesterday to protest the lack of female representation in the newly announce cabinet for President Ashraf Ghani.
During their election campaign last year, President Ghani and Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah promised to increase the representation of women in the cabinet, saying at least four of the positions would be women. Ghani and Abdullah announced their nominees for cabinet earlier this month, to the general relief of the Afghan people. Women, however, were upset because two of the three women nominated were rejected by the Parliament.
Parliament rejected a number of the nominees for various reasons, including not being able to provide certain documents, but protesters cited specific anger over the rejection of well-known feminist journalist Najiba Ayubi. Activist Samira Hamidi of the Afghan Women’s Network said that 38 percent of voters in the presidential election were women, “so we should be given 38% of the cabinet, which is nine ministers.”
Women activists and civil society groups therefore walked the streets of Kabul yesterday, demanding that women’s voices be represented within the country’s cabinet. Among their list of demands, the protesters are asking that if a female nominee is rejected, then the person nominated in her place is also a woman. The Afghan Women’s Network has released a list of 21 qualified women for the Parliament to review.
Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 9/22/14; Feminist Newswire 1/13/15; The Guardian 2/3/15; Afghan Women’s Network 2/3/15;
