Working for Women Worldwide - Embassy of the United States

Reform Efforts. In October 2004, the State
Department announced additional funding for economic,
political, and educational reform and women’s
empowerment in Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia,
Egypt, the West Bank, and Gaza. Many of these initiatives
propose creative linkages among NGOs, government
ministries, civil society, and businesses.
Afghanistan and Iraq
Afghanistan and Iraq provide vibrant examples of
why the United States invests so much in advancing
education for women and girls.
First Lady Laura Bush finds Afghanistan’s story
particularly compelling: “One of the most inspiring
places to witness the transformation education brings
is in Afghanistan. Three years ago, 92 percent of girls
did not attend school because the Taliban did not allow
women to be educated. Today, nearly four million children
are in school—including more than a million
girls. Young girls, who were not allowed to leave their
homes unless they were accompanied by a male relative,
who had to hide their books under their burkas,
are now studying math and science.”
By summer 2004, the United States had implemented
more than 200 programs, including in education
and training, that directly benefited Afghan
women.
The U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, which
encourages public-private partnerships between U.S.
and Afghan women, has established a Women’s
Teacher Training Institute in Kabul in cooperation
with USAID. The institute will work with the
Afghan Literacy Initiative to help teach basic literacy
to rural Afghan women. In addition, every six months
some 30 Afghan women travel to the United States for
teacher training—and they return to Afghanistan to
train other teachers.
The council has sponsored training as well in a
variety of fields: training for women journalists and
new entrepreneurs, literacy education for women in
the traditional carpet industry, and training in health
care for rural communities. Two noteworthy initiatives
in the latter area are the training of midwives and distribution
of the “talking” Afghan Health Book, an
interactive publication with basic information that is
being distributed in Dari and Pashto across rural
Afghanistan (see p. 22 for details).
A key to education is connection, not only
between students and teachers, but among the larger
global community of colleagues, experts, mentors, and
professionals. In Afghanistan, the United States has
conducted a diverse set of educational and cultural
exchanges directed at women. For example, after
restoration of the Fulbright exchange program to
Afghanistan, four women were among the first 20
Afghan university students selected for the academic
year 2004-2005.
By 2004, girls in Iraq were enrolling in the more
than 2,300 renovated schools. Their rates of attendance
are now higher than they were in the pre-war
period. Partnerships between U.S. and Iraqi universities
have been strengthened as well, and six women
were among the first class of 25 Iraqi Fulbright students.
The United States is supporting the creation of
nine Women’s Centers in Baghdad and 11 regional
Women’s Centers throughout the country. At these
centers, and through the U.S.-Iraq Women’s Network
of public-private partnerships and the Iraqi Women’s
Democracy Initiative, women can gain knowledge and
expertise in entrepreneurship, democracy education,
political organization, leadership, and coalition building.
The $10 million Democracy Initiative, for example,
will “help women become full and vibrant partners
in Iraq’s developing democracy,” said U.S. Under
Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula
Dobriansky. “We will give them the tools to manage
their own associations and to build coalitions with
others, and we will provide the information and experience
they need to run for office, lobby for fair treatment,
and lead Iraq’s emerging institutions.”
Education for women is not just for the betterment
of women alone. Even more so than in the past,
education will be the key that builds tolerance and
understanding and that unlocks futures of freedom,
opportunity, and prosperity for all the peoples of the
world. As then Secretary of State Colin Powell said in
October 2004, in recognition of International
Education Week: “Meeting the 21st century challenges
that confront all countries requires an unprecedented
degree of understanding and cooperation among
nations and among leaders in every field.”
For additional information on these and other
U.S. government programs, see http://www.state.gov,
http://exchanges.state.gov/, http://mepi.state.gov/
c10175.htm, http://usawc.state.gov/index.htm, and
http://www.usaid.gov/.
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