The 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day: Toward A New Framework for Advancing Women's Rights and Dignity in Afghanistan

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

2011 marks the 10^th anniversary of the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan and the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day. Taken together, these anniversaries provide a sober framework for reflecting on the status of women in today’s Afghanistan.

Ten years ago, international intervention in Afghanistan was promoted, among other things, under the banner of upholding women’s rights, albeit under a motif that largely featured women as burka-clad victims of violence oppression. This centennial anniversary of International Women’s Day is an opportunity for the world to again demand dignity and justice for women in Afghanistan (who ten years later are still struggling to protect their rights and access to the public sphere), but this time it must do so under a framework that acknowledges the dignity, bravery and agency of the women who risk their lives each day to assert and defend a vision of an Afghanistan that upholds the rights of all Afghans.

We have seen that when advocacy efforts start with women on the ground and are then acknowledged and elevated on a global scale, change is possible. In 2009, the Government of Afghanistan surreptitiously developed a law to curtail the rights of women of the Shia minority, as an attempt to curry political favor with conservative groups. But the outcry of women’s groups was immediate and effective. Hundreds of women organized protests in the streets of Kabul, braving ridicule and intimidation, to register their public disapproval of the measure. International activists, bloggers and leaders up to the level of American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed their cry: op-eds ran in newspapers around the world urging intense international pressure and a reversal by the Afghan government. And Karzai quickly capitulated, nullifying the measure for judicial review.

Similarly, as discussions of reconciliation with Taliban leaders developed over the course of the last year, women of all backgrounds were watching, eager to raise their voices despite strong resistance and regular marginalization of their views. Last summer’s Peace Jirga, a conference convening a cross-section of Afghan society to debate the merits and process for proposed peace talks, initially allocated only 20 seats for women, out of more than a thousand. After intense lobbying by Afghan women’s organizations and strong support by the international community, the resulting Peace Jirga saw exponentially more women—350—able to participate.

In a related vein, during the Kabul Conference, a donor conference that gathered 40 foreign ministers from around the world to discuss Afghanistan’s national economic plan, women leaders were initially excluded from attending. In the end, pressure from the international community, including the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, resulted in the right for Palwasha Hassan, a women’s rights activist who helped found the Afghan Women’s Network, to articulate the concerns of Afghan women that the ongoing peace and reintegration process excludes women and ignores normative protections of women’s rights under international and national law, such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the National Action Plan for Women of Afghanistan and the Elimination of Violence Against Women act.

This is the kind of model for inclusive—and effective—advocacy for women’s rights in Afghanistan that must be replicated immediately with regard to the ongoing peace process.

This International Women’s Day, hundreds of women will be participating in a Peace March in Kabul. They are marching to call attention to the fact that past promises to prioritize women’s rights in the ongoing peace talks with Taliban leaders have not been upheld. Many women supported the idea of reconciliation when first proposed, when it was thought the interests of the Afghan people—including women—would be represented in any compromise. Instead, an opaque process has commenced, orchestrated by a High Peace Council of political appointees whose ten female representatives provide only a thin veneer of credibility to a behind-the-scenes discussion in which communication between Taliban and High Peace Council is about negotiation of power opportunities for Taliban and not about the protection of women’s rights.

So on March 7^th, women in Kabul are marching in silent yet public protest of those talks. On March 8^th, the 100^th anniversary of International Women’s Day, they will be joined by thousands of activists around the world uniting on bridges in acknowledgement that women on the ground build bridges of peace and cannot pay its price alone. With enough international support behind the women on the front lines, perhaps the world will once again see success where a global call for women’s rights in Afghanistan is led by Afghan women.