United Nations Radio

When Afghans go to the polls next week, women will be among those making their voices heard.

Women voting in Afghanistan

There are even two female presidential candidates. Afghan women and those supporting them are happy with this progress, even as women voters and candidates alike face serious obstacles. Diane Bailey prepared this report.

DIANE: Sayeda Mojgan Mostafavi works with Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs as a Technical and Policy Deputy. She knows how important it is for women to take part in the vote on August 20th, but she's also aware of the challenges they face.

MOSTAFAVI: I hope that the rule of the man in the family have not any effect to their decision-making.

DIANE: Reports that some men may not allow their wives or other female relatives to vote is one difficulty. Teresa de Langis with the UN Development Fund for Women in Afghanistan, UNIFEM, is also concerned about difficulties women candidates face.

DE LANGIS: Women's human rights are very controversial in Afghanistan. So for these women, they are not going to be able to have a rally of a thousand people. Instead, what they tell us is they are going door to door to door talking to other women about their platforms. We know that they are being threatened from everything from their families giving directly death threats saying get out of these elections, to the broader insecurity of Afghanistan as a conflict country.

DIANE: Teresa de Langis says UNIFEM faces these challenges too, so the UN agency provides the candidates with around-the-clock support, including the use of the building that houses UNIFEM.

DE LANGIS: They can meet each other, they can network, they can get strategies and ideas, they can print posters, use the computers. But they also see that they are being validated as women political actors when they walk through the door. We also have a 24-hour hotline so that women political actors can call us and we will link them to the appropriate information that they need. And finally, we have an urgent action fund which is specifically for those instances where we know that women are in direct and imminent danger.

DIANE: Teresa de Langis says the Fund provides things like taxi fare to a woman candidate in danger, which can mean the difference between life and death, or danger and a safe place. Meanwhile, the Afghan government has set aside 30% of provincial seats for women, a goal not likely to be reached in the near future. Still, Ministry of Women's Affairs Deputy Sayeda Mojgan Mostafavi believes with more women in office, and a president sympathetic to women's rights, the country can begin to address some of the huge deficits women and girls face.

MOSTAFAVI: Still most of women are living under the poverty line, still there are lots of women who can't read and write and this is a big challenge for them because when they are not literate, how can they participate in the good work and the good job of this country. I hope that we can see many, many good changes about the life of the women and I hope that the new president of this country has more effort towards the good life of women of this country.

DIANE: So far, women candidates continue to actively campaign in the lead-up to the elections next Thursday, in the hopes of contributing to an Afghanistan where more women are at the decision-making table. For UN Radio this is Diane Bailey reporting.

Duration: 2'52"