Afghanistan

Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East

Citation:

Moghadam, Valentine M. 2013. Modernizing Women: Gender and Social Change in the Middle East. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Author: Valentine M. Moghadam

Annotation:

Summary:
The subject of this study is social change in the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan ; its impact on women's legal status and social positions ; and women's varied responses to, and involvment in, change processes. It also deals with constructions of gender during periods of social and political change. Social change is usually described in terms of modernization, revolution, cultural challenges, and social movements. Much of the standard literature on these topics does not examine women or gender, and thus [the author] hopes this study will contribute to an appreciation of the significance of gender in the midst of change. Neither are there many sociological studies on MENA and Afghansitan or studies on women in MENA and Afghanistan from a sociological perspective. Myths and stereotypes abund regarding women, Islam, and the region, and the events of September 11 and since have only compounded them. This book is intended in part to "normalize" the Middle East by underscoring the salience of structural determinants other than religion. It focuses on the major social-change processes in the region to show how women's lives are shaped not only by "Islam" and "culture", but also by economic development, the state, class location, and the world system. Why the focus on women? It is [the author's] contention that middle-class women are consciously and unconsciously major agents of social change in the region, at the vanguard of movements for modernity, democratization and citizenship. (Summary from Google Books)
 
Table of Contents:
1. Recasting the Middle East, North Africa, and Afghanistan
 
2. Economic Development, State Policy, and Women's Employment
 
3. Reforms, Revolutions, and the Woman Question
 
4. Patriarchy, and the Changing Family
 
5. Islamist Movements and Women's Responses
 
6. Iran: from Islamization to Islamic Feminism, and Beyond?
 
7. Afghanistan: Revolution, Reaction, and Attempted Reconstruction
 
8. All That Is Solid Melts into Air

Topics: Democracy / Democratization, Development, Economies, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Religion Regions: Africa, MENA, North Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Iran

Year: 2013

Association of Exposure to Civil Conflict With Maternal Resilience and Maternal and Child Health and Health System Performance in Afghanistan

Citation:

Akseer, Nadia, Arjumand Rizvi, and Zaid Bhatti. 2019. "Association of Exposure to Civil Conflict With Maternal Resilience and Maternal and Child Health and Health System Performance in Afghanistan." JAMA Network Open 2 (11): 1-16.

Authors: Nadia Akseer, Arjumand Rizvi, Zaid Bhatti

Abstract:

Importance: Current studies examining the effects of Afghanistan’s conflict transition on the performance of health systems, health service delivery, and health outcomes are outdated and small in scale and do not span all essential reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health interventions.
 
Objective: To evaluate associations of conflict severity with improvement of health system performance, use of health services, and child nutrition outcomes in Afghanistan during the 2003 to 2018 reconstruction period.
 
Design, Setting, and Participants: This population-based survey study included a sequential cross-sectional analysis of individual-level panel data across 2 periods (2003-2010 and 2010-2018) and a difference-in-differences design. Surveys included the 2003 to 2004 and 2010 to 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and the 2018 Afghanistan Health Survey. Afghanistan’s 2013 National Nutrition Survey was used to assess nutritional outcomes, and the annual Balanced Scorecard data sets were used to evaluate health system performance. Participants included girls and women aged 12 to 49 years and children younger than 5 years who completed nationally representative household surveys. All analyses were conducted from January 1 through April 30, 2019.
 
Exposures: Provinces were categorized as experiencing minimal-, moderate-, and severe-intensity conflict using battle-related death data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
 
Main Outcomes and Measures: Health intervention coverage was examined using 10 standard indicators: contraceptive method (any or modern); antenatal care by a skilled health care professional; facility delivery; skilled birth attendance (SBA); bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination (BCG); diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccination (DPT3) or DPT3 plus hepatitis B and poliomyelitis (penta); measles vaccination; care-seeking for acute respiratory infection; oral rehydration therapy for diarrhea; and the Composite Coverage Index. The health system performance was analyzed using the following standard Balanced Scorecard composite domains: client and community, human resources, physical capacity, quality of service provision, management systems, and overall mission. Child stunting, wasting, underweight, and co-occurrence of stunting and wasting were estimated using World Health Organization growth reference cutoffs.
 
Results: Responses from 64 815 women (mean [SD] age, 31.0 [8.5] years) were analyzed. Provinces with minimal-intensity conflict had greater gains in contraceptive use (mean annual percentage point change [MAPC], 1.3% vs 0.5%; P < .001), SBA (MAPC, 2.7% vs 1.5%; P = .005), BCG vaccination (MAPC, 3.3% vs −0.5%; P = .002), measles vaccination (MAPC, 1.9% vs −1.0%; P = .01), and DPT3/penta vaccination (MAPC, 1.0% vs −2.0%; P < .001) compared with provinces with moderate- to severe-intensity conflict after controlling for confounders. Provinces with severe-intensity conflict fared significantly worse than those with minimal-intensity conflict in functioning infrastructure (MAPC, −1.6% [95% CI, −2.4% to −0.8%]) and the client background and physical assessment index (MAPC, −1.0% [95% CI, −0.8% to 2.7%]) after adjusting for confounders. Child wasting was significantly worse in districts with greater conflict severity (full adjusted β for association between logarithm of battle-related deaths and wasting, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.01-0.66]; P = .04).
 
Conclusions and Relevance: Associations between conflict and maternal and child health in Afghanistan differed by health care intervention and delivery domain, with several key indicators lagging behind in areas with higher-intensity conflict. These findings may be helpful for planning and prioritizing efforts to reach the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in Afghanistan.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, Health, Reproductive Health, Post-Conflict, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2019

A Walk on the Wild Side of Gender, War and Development in Afghanistan and Northern Uganda

Citation:

Blumberg, Rae Lesser. 2015. "A Walk on the Wild Side of Gender, War and Development in Afghanistan and Northern Uganda." In Development in Crisis: Threats to Human Well-Being in the Global South and Global North, edited by Rae Lesser Blumberg and Samuel Cohn, 134-55. London: Taylor & Francis Ltd. 

Author: Rae Lesser Blumberg

Abstract:

The 'walk on the wild side' took place in Afghanistan where women have almost zero economic power and their overall position is arguably about the most unequal on earth. There were few gender angles, although the government's participatory process to formulate the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) was the first time in the country's history that people from all 34 provinces had been consulted on their country's development and future. Ahmed-Ghosh provides the first key to Afghanistan's history: this has been a tribal society, multilingual and multiethnic, never fully governed by a weak state. The main sticking point is men's unwillingness to give land, the main source of wealth in a farming society, to women. This chapter explains two gender theories and applies them to Afghan and Acholi women. Acholi women have no effective land rights because the group is patrilineal with male inheritance of land.

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2015

Gender, Militaries and Security Sector Reform

Citation:

Bastick, Megan. 2017. “Gender, Militaries and Security Sector Reform.” In The Palgrave International Handbook of Gender and the Military, edited by Rachel Woodward and Claire Duncanson, 387–402. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Author: Megan Bastick

Abstract:

Feminist scholars have been critical of policy approaches to implementing gender in security sector reform (SSR), and sceptical of their success. Nonetheless, one can find many examples of women’s organizations influencing SSR, and SSR contributing to more gender-responsive security sector institutions. SSR processes addressing armed forces should focus on the gendered aspects of personnel and operational capabilities, institutional culture and governance. Armed forces involved in international operations are increasingly mandated to undertake SSR activities, and require capabilities to address their gender dimensions. This chapter examines NATO missions’ efforts to recruit women into Afghan security forces, as highlighting some of the challenges and tensions that are illuminated by a gendered analysis of SSR.

Topics: Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Security Sector Reform Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2017

Rethinking Transitional Gender Justice: Transformative Approaches in Post-Conflict Settings

Citation:

Shackel, Rita, and Lucy Fiske, eds. 2019. Rethinking Transitional Gender Justice: Transformative Approaches in Post-Conflict Settings. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Rita Shackel, Lucy Fiske

Annotation:

Summary:
This book draws together established and emerging scholars from sociology, law, history, political science and education to examine the global and local issues in the pursuit of gender justice in post-conflict settings. This examination is especially important given the disappointing progress made to date in spite of concerted efforts over the last two decades. With contributions from both academics and practitioners working at national and international levels, this work integrates theory and practice, examining both global problems and highly contextual case studies including Kenya, Somalia, Peru, Afghanistan and DRC. The contributors aim to provide a comprehensive and compelling argument for the need to fundamentally rethink global approaches to gender justice. Rita Shackel is Associate Professor of Law at The University of Sydney Law School, Australia. Her research program is broadly focused on evaluation and reform of legal and social justice processes, with a specific focus on sexual and gender based violence and the needs of victims and survivors especially women and children. Lucy Fiske is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on forced migration, human rights and gender justice. (Summary from Palgrave Macmillan) 
 
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction: Rethinking Institutions
Lucy Fiske and Rita Shackel
 
Part I: Rethinking Institutions
2. The Rise (and Fall?) of Transitional Gender Justice: A Survey of the Field
Lucy Fiske
 
3. Ebola and Post Conflict Gender Justice: Lessons from Liberia
Pamela Scully
 
4. Making Clients Out of Citizens: Deconstructing Women’s Economic Empowerment and Humanitarianism in Post Conflict Interventions
Rita Shackel and Lucy Fiske
 
5. Using War to Shift Peacetime Norms: The Example of Forced Marriage in Sierra Leone
Kiran Grewal
 
6. More Than a Victim: Thinking through Foreign Correspondents’ Representations of Women in Conflict
Chrisanthi Giotis 
 
Part II: Rethinking Interventions
7. WPS, Gender and Foreign Military Interveners: Experience from Iraq and Afghanistan
Angeline Lewis
 
8. Addressing Masculinities in Peace Negotiations: An Opportunity for Gender Justice
Philipp Kastner and Elisabeth Roy-Trudel
 
9. Recalling Violence: Gender and Memory Work in Contemporary Post-conflict Peru
Jelke Boesten
 
10. ICC Prosecutions of Sexual and Gender Based Violence: Challenges and successes
Rita Shackel
 
Part III: Learning from the Field
11. Speaking from the Ground: Transitional Gender Justice in Nepal
Punam Yadav
 
12: Quechua Women: Agency in the Testimonies of the CVR - Peru Public Hearings
Sofia Macher
 
13. The Effects of Indigenous Patriarchal Systems on Women's Participation in Public Decision Making in Conflict Settings: The Case of Somalia
Fowsia Abdulkadir and Rahma Abdulkadir
 
14. ‘Women Are Not Ready to [Vote for] Their Own’: Remaking Democracy, Making Citizens after the 2007 Post-election Violence in Kenya
Christina Kenny
 
15. ‘An education without Any fear?’: Higher education and Gender Justice in Afghanistan
Anne Maree Payne, Nina Burridge and Nasima Rahmani
 
16. Transitioning with Disability: Justice for Women with Disabilities in Post-war Sri Lanka
Dinesha Samararatne and Karen Soldatic
 
17. Conclusion
Rita Shackel and Lucky Fiske

 

Topics: Conflict, Democracy / Democratization, Education, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Indigenous, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, MENA, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Americas, South America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Peru, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka

Year: 2019

Reaching a Durable Peace in Afghanistan and Iraq: Learning from Investments in Women’s Programming

Citation:

Steiner, Steven E., and Danielle Robertson. 2019. Reaching a Durable Peace in Afghanistan and Iraq: Learning from Investments in Women's Programming. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace. 

Authors: Steven E. Steiner, Danielle Robertson

Annotation:

Summary: 
Afghanistan and Iraq have long been embroiled in violent conflict fueled by deep-seated local grievances and international interests. In both countries, peacebuilding agendas and gender equality advancements have struggled to take hold. Local and international civil society, allied nations, and the US government need to continue their efforts while they fight public fatigue about international investment and financing in peacebuilding and development work. To sustain peace in these countries, peacebuilding and development programs need to take seriously the opportunities for learning from years of previous implementation—especially decades of work to advance the rights, agency, and opportunities of women and girls. Evidence supports the link between durable peace and women’s participation as peacebuilders. Women and girls need to be engaged as key partners for peace by local civil society, national governments, and international implementers in shaping and defining peace agendas. For programs to be more effective in advancing gender equality and sustaining peace, they need to follow a participatory design with local voices and ownership, adopt a holistic approach to implementation, pursue long-term engagement, and move beyond traditional women’s programming by addressing gender dynamics and masculine identities through the engagement of families and communities. To be more transformative in peacebuilding work, programs will need to address root drivers of gender inequality in societies and to simultaneously undertake targeted work to support the rights and needs of women and girls. Both approaches in tandem are essential to meaningfully pursue gender equality and sustain longterm peace” (Steiner and Robertson 2019, 1).

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Society, Development, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Organizations, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Iraq

Year: 2019

Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women

Citation:

Heath, Jennifer, and Ashraf Zahedi, eds. 2011. Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Authors: Jennifer Heath, Ashraf Zahedi

Annotation:

Summary:
Reaching beyond sensational headlines, Land of the Unconquerable at last offers a three-dimensional portrait of Afghan women. In a series of wide-ranging, deeply reflective essays, accomplished scholars, humanitarian workers, politicians, and journalists—most with extended experience inside Afghanistan—examine the realities of life for women in both urban and rural settings. They address topics including food security, sex work, health, marriage, education, poetry, politics, prisoners, and community development. Eschewing stereotypes about the burqa, the contributors focus instead on women’s empowerment and agency, and their struggles for peace and justice in the face of a brutal ongoing war. A fuller picture of Afghanistan’s women past and present emerges, leading to social policy suggestions and pragmatic solutions for a peaceful future. (Summary from University of California Press)
 
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Jennifer Heath
 
1. The Politics of Zan from Amanullah to Karzai: Lessons for Improving Afghan Women’s Status
Shireen Khan Burki
 
2. Between Covered and Covert: Traditions, Stereotypes, and Afghan Women’s Agency
Margaret A. Mills
 
3. Centuries of Threat, Centuries of Resistance: The Lessons of Afghan Women’s Resilience
Anne E. Brodsky
 
4. Don’t Say What, Who, and When, Say How: Community Development and Women
Wahid Omar
 
5. Afghanistan Blues: Seeing Beyond the Burqa on YouTube
Dinah Zeiger
 
6. Women’s Political Presence: A Path to Promoting Gender Interests?
Anna Larson
 
7. Voices of Parliamentarians: Four Women MPs Share Their Thoughts
Massouda Jalal, Malalai Joya, Fawzia Koofi, and Azita Rafat
 
8. Nothing Left to Lose: Women in Prison
Lizette Potgieter
 
9. Selling Sex in Afghanistan: Portraits of Sex Workers in Kabul
Alisa Tang
 
10. Between Choice and Force: Marriage Practices in Afghanistan
Deborah J. Smith
 
11. The Hidden War against Women: Health Care in Afghanistan
Sima Samar
 
12. Challenges to Cripple the Spirit: A Midwife’s Experiences
Pamela Chandler
 
13. Women with Disabilities: Recollections from Across the Decades
Mary MacMakin
 
14. A Question of Access: Women and Food Security
Elizabeth Stites
 
15. Psychological Impacts of War: Human Rights and Mental Health
Nahid Aziz
 
16. Mending Afghanistan Stitch by Stitch: How Traditional Crafts and Social Organization Advance Afghan Women
Rachel Lehr
 
17. Rural Women’s Livelihood: Their Position in the Agrarian Economy
Jo Grace and Adam Pain
 
18. Chadari Politics: Translating Perceptions into Policy and Practice
Lina Abirafeh
 
19. When the Picture Does Not Fit the Frame: Engaging Afghan Men in Women’s Empowerment
Ashraf Zahedi
 
20. Empowering Women through Education: Recipe for Success
Sakena Yacoobi
 
21. From Both Sides of the Mic: Women and the Media
Aunohita Mojumdar
 
22. Painting Their Way into the Public World: Women and the Visual Arts
Lauryn Oates
 
23. A Hidden Discourse: Afghanistan’s Women Poets
Zuzanna Olszewska
 
24. Hopes and Dreams: Interviews with Young Afghans
Amina Kator

Topics: Armed Conflict, Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Livelihoods, Sexual Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2011

Feminism, Peace, and Afghanistan

Citation:

Samar, Sima. 2019. "Feminism, Peace, and Afghanistan." Journal of International Affairs 72 (2): 145-58.

Author: Sima Samar

Abstract:

The conflict in Afghanistan, which has spanned 41 years, presents many complex issues with which policymakers must grapple. The human rights situation of Afghan women is prominent among these realities. The overt politicization of Afghan women, their rights, and their role within society can be traced back to 1978 when a coup d’état resulted in the fall of Daud Khan’s government, and commenced the bloody militarization of communist factions and mujahedeen. The subsequent history of Afghanistan’s ongoing war has intensified the exclusion of Afghan women from the social, political, and economic arenas. This has not only resulted in the exacerbation of widespread poverty, but in the perpetuation of the Afghan conflict itself. With the foreign presence in Afghanistan feeling the pressure to end the nearly two-decade intervention, peace and negotiation with opposing non-state actors has dominated the current dialogue. Afghan women continue to be excluded from the decision-making processes and the lack of access to leadership roles. If Afghanistan continues to exclude women from peace processes, including negotiations, a sustainable peace is not achievable. Feminism must play a crucial role in paving the way forward for Afghanistan to adopt a long-lasting peace. This article documents the author’s personal experience as she witnessed the transformation of Afghanistan from the extreme left government of the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan to the extreme right government of the Taliban and examines the impact for the future of women’s human rights in Afghanistan.

Keywords: feminism, terrorism, gender equality, communism, Peace Negotiations

Topics: Armed Conflict, Economies, Poverty, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Peace Processes, Rights, Human Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2019

Gender and the EU's Support for Security Sector Reform in Fragile Contexts

Citation:

Ansorg, Nadine, and Toni Haastrup. 2018. "Gender and the EU's Support for Security Sector Reform in Fragile Contexts." Journal of Common Market Studies 56 (5): 1127-43.

Authors: Nadine Ansorg, Toni Haastrup

Abstract:

How does the European Union (EU) include ‘gender’ within its support to security sector reform (SSR) programmes? The EU has committed to include gender perspectives by implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS) within its foreign security practices. While researchers and practitioners recognise the importance of integrating gender issues into SSR operational effectiveness, there is limited knowledge about how this functions within the EU’s security architecture. This article uses Feminist Institutionalism (FI) to understand the process of gender mainstreaming within the EU’s support to SSR programmes. It does this by using two crucial theory-testing cases of SSR programmes – Ukraine and Afghanistan. It finds that the EU’s ability to promote gender inclusive approaches to SSR is limited by the structure of the EU’s own assumptions and capabilities, and institutional constraints in third countries. At the same time, the cases underscore the importance of individuals as agents of change. 

Keywords: EU, security sector reform, Gender, feminist institutionalism, security

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Security, Security Sector Reform, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Eastern Europe Countries: Afghanistan, Ukraine

Year: 2018

Cosmopolitan Militaries and Dialogic Peacekeeping: Danish and Swedish Women Soldiers in Afghanistan

Citation:

Rosamond, Annika Bergman, and Annica Kronsell. 2018. "Cosmopolitan Militaries and Dialogic Peacekeeping: Danish and Swedish Women Soldiers in Afghanistan." International Feminist Journal of Politics 20 (2): 172-87.

Authors: Annika Bergman Rosamond, Annica Kronsell

Abstract:

Feminist security studies (FSS) scholarship advocates the analysis of women's war experiences and narratives to understand conflict and military intervention. Here we add a non-great power focus to FSS debates on the gendered discourses of military interventionism. We zoom in on Danish and Swedish women soldiers' reflections on their involvement in the ISAF operation in Afghanistan. Their stories are deconstructed against the backdrop of their states' adoption of a cosmopolitan-minded ethic on military obligation. Both states employed women soldiers in dialogic peacekeeping in Afghanistan to establish links with local women and to gather intelligence, tasks that we less frequently afforded to male soldiers. However, feminist FSS scholarship locates military intelligence gathering within racial, gendered and imperialist power relations that assign victimhood to local women. This feminist critique is pertinent, but the gendered and racial logics governing international operations vary across national contexts. While such gender binaries were present in Danish and Swedish military practice in Afghanistan, our article shows that dialogic peacekeeping offered an alternative to stereotypical constructions of women as victims and men as protectors. Dialogic peacekeeping helped to disrupt such gendering processes, giving women soldiers an opportunity to rethink their gender identities while instilling dialogical relations with local women. 

Keywords: feminist security studies, cosmopolitanism, dialogic peacekeeping, women soldiers, non-great powers, Narratives

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Discourses, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peacekeeping, Security Regions: Asia, South Asia, Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Afghanistan, Denmark, Sweden

Year: 2018

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