Det er ikke uden problemer i det konservative og mandsdominerede Afghanistan, hvor kvinderne på holdet ofte blev henvist til at tage sig af svage mænd i stedet for udsatte kvinder, fordi landsbyledelserne i reglen består af mænd – men nu er der forbedringer på vej.
KABUL, 15 December 2014 (IRIN): When Shaharzad completed her law degree and announced she wanted to get a job, her younger brother did what he could to stop it.
Coming from the culturally conservative Badakhshan region, the siblings (søskende) had left their parents behind to move to the capital Kabul and her brother was technically the head of the household. Even still, she was determined to stand on her own feet.
Two years later, he is still trying to persuade her to quit.
“Every two or three days he says the same thing – it is better to stay at home and I will provide the salary. He asks me to stay at home and cook for him and wash his clothes,” she said, giggling as though amazed by her own rebellion:
“But I am trying to go forwards, not backwards”, added she.
Working for a Norwegian NGO
Shaharzad makes up one fifth of the Norwegian Refugee Council’s first ever female-only intervention team, which the NGO believes is also the only such entity in the country.
Working around shelter issues, the women are tasked with aiding female-headed households in one particular region of the capital Kabul.
Homaira, the team’s leader, who like Shaharzad asked that just her first name be printed, has been with the organization since 2008, but until last year she was always a solitary woman in an all-male team.
This affected how much contact the NGO had with women in the communities.
“When we were going to the villages to identify the beneficiaries (modtagerne), since the head of the communities are usually male they were introducing only the vulnerable males to us. The number of female beneficiaries was very low,” she explained.
“The women had to go through a middle man and sometimes we heard that they were charged (had to pay money),” Homaira added. “Now they contact us directly and can benefit without charges or bribery (bestikkelse).”
Helping women to get ID-cards
Among the many services NRC provides is helping women register for national identity cards. Up to 90 percent of women in the informal settlements of Kabul don’t have ID cards – and that means they cannot formally rent a house, open a bank account, inherit money or vote.
The five women come from different parts of Afghanistan’s tribal society, yet the experience has bonded them together.
“We have built confidence in women – even among ourselves,” Shaharzad said, noting:
“At the beginning when I was going to the villages and selecting the female-headed households I was not sure the women could build their shelters. But when we provided resources, cash, and they showed they could handle it, now they are confident in their ability and I am too.”
Poor statistics
Læs videre på
http://www.irinnews.org/report/100941/afghanistan-uphill-struggle-for-female-aid-workers
