WORLD

Afghanistan goes to the polls on Saturday. Hundreds of women are running for provincial council posts, and a former minister is making history as the first-ever female vice presidential candidate. (Christian Science Monitor)

Use our resources to better understand Afghan culture.

Discussion Ideas

• Read the short Christian Science Monitor (CSM) article, then read through the just-as-short article “The Taliban, Women, and Human Rights” from one of our partners. Why is Habiba Sarabi’s candidacy so groundbreaking?
  • A generation ago, Afghan women were among the most famously repressed groups in the world. Before the American invasion in 2001, for instance, women were not allowed to go to school, forced to wear full-body hijab called burqas, and required permission from men to leave the home.

• Sarabi says “I’m sure that [women’s progress] will continue.” Besides increased female representation in government, how else do you think women’s progress can be sought in Afghanistan? (Read “The Taliban, Women, and Human Rights” for some help.)
  • Changing Afghanistan’s traditional conservative culture will probably be more difficult than political progress. High-ranking government officials (including outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai) still support sharia law, which recognizes women as secondary to men, forbids women to travel without a man, and discourages women from associating with men while working or studying.
  • increasing literacy and educational opportunities for all Afghans
  • increasing access to health care for all Afghans
  • increasing the number of women-owned businesses
  • increasing the number of women lawyers and judges
  • expanding representation of women in media
  • eliminating prison sentences for “moral crimes”, including women fleeing abusive marriages or traveling outside their community
  • enforcing laws that already exist, such as guarantees of equal rights and prosecution of violence against women

• In the CSM article, Habiba Sarabi says the office of the vice president is the “third highest position in the country.” What are the top two?
  • Afghanistan has two vice presidents. The president and the first vice-president have greater political power than the second vice-president, the position for which Sarabi is running.

• If Sarabi is elected to office, she will join female political leaders all over the world. What are some countries led by women?
  • North America
    • Laura Chinchilla is the president of Costa Rica
    • Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago
    • Portia Simpson-Miller is the prime minister of Jamaica
  • South America
    • Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is the president of Argentina
    • Dilma Rousseff is president of Brazil
    • Michelle Bachelet is the president of Chile
  • Europe
    • Angela Merkel is chancellor of Germany
    • Dalia Grybauskaite is the president of Lithuania
    • Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the prime minister of Denmark
    • Alenka Bratusek is the prime minister of Slovenia
    • Erna Solberg is the prime minister of Norway
    • Laimdota Straujuma is the prime minister of Latvia
  • Asia
    • Sheikh Hasina is the prime minister of Bangladesh
    • Park Geun-hye is president of South Korea
    • Yingluck Shinawatra is the prime minister of Thailand
  • Africa
    • Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the president of Liberia
    • Joyce Banda is president of Malawi
    • Catherine Samba-Panza is the acting president of the Central African Republic
    • Aminata Toure is the prime minister of Senegal