Women's Role in Afghanistan's Future : Taking Stock of Achievements and Continued Challenges
This report assesses the overall situation of women in Afghanistan across key sectors, acting as a follow-up to the report published by the World Bank in 2005 entitled, Afghanistan: National Reconstruction and Poverty Reduction-Role of Women in Afg...
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| Format: | Women in Development and Gender Study |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/03/19421690/womens-role-afghanistans-future-taking-stock-achievements-continued-challenges http://hdl.handle.net/10986/18661 |
| Summary: | This report assesses the overall
situation of women in Afghanistan across key sectors, acting
as a follow-up to the report published by the World Bank in
2005 entitled, Afghanistan: National Reconstruction and
Poverty Reduction-Role of Women in Afghanistan's
Future. What can be seen from the sectoral chapters (namely
in health, education, work and employment, and legal rights
and voice) included in this report is that, in sectors where
concerted and coordinated efforts have been made among a
collection of key actors (including the Government of
Afghanistan, the donor community, NGOs and civil society,
significant improvements have been achieved. Where
well-planned systems have been designed and consensus has
been garnered for the support of these systems, services are
indeed reaching more women and girls, and communities are
becoming more accepting of these services. What is also
shown in the report is the innovative function that NGOs and
civil society actors have played in some of the sectors
discussed, developing new mechanisms to include and reach
women. The report also highlights areas in which significant
improvement has been lacking, and a systematic approach to
addressing some issues is still missing. The prevailing lack
of reliable data makes understanding the issues faced by
women in these sectors challenging. Each chapter in the
report concludes by distilling key recommendations for the
future, whether based on successes to date, or based on a
lack of progress and critical gaps in specific areas. While
specific issues can be identified as critical within each of
the above sectors, what is also notable is that some issues
cut across all sectors as prevailing barriers for women. One
of these consistent themes is that the lack of female
professionals in key areas poses a barrier to other women
and girls accessing these services. Another cross-cutting
impediment for women is insecurity, or the perception of
insecurity. In each chapter, issues of regional inequality
and disparity between rural and urban areas can be seen
across key indicators. In addition, barriers such as a lack
of mobility, limited transportation options, inadequate
infrastructure that omits women-friendly features, and the
prevalence of early marriage, tend to be repetitive
cross-cutting barriers. Finally, the report concludes framed
through the lens of the upcoming transition years in
Afghanistan, when the Government of Afghanistan will take
over more and more direct management of services and security. |
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