Afghan President Hamid Karzai will appoint a female provincial governor for the first time in Afghanistan’s history. Karzai will be choosing the governor of the central Bamiyan province from a short list of all-female candidates that includes the former Minister of Women’s Affairs, Habiba Sorabi, reports the Associated Press.
Many see the appointment of a female governor as a positive step towards promoting women’s rights in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, Karzai appointed three women to his newly formed Cabinet that consists of 30 people.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in April. One-quarter of seats are reserved for women in the lower house and one-sixth of seats in the upper house of Parliament. In the United States, women hold only 14.8 percent of seats in Congress.
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