The Politics of Gender and Reconstruction in Afghanistan

EVOLVING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS:
POTENTIALS AND LIMITATIONS • CONCLUSION PAGE 31
from 54 per cent (40 per cent for girls) to 100 per cent for boys and girls by 2015, the under-five mortality rate
to decline from 172 to 130 per 1,000 live births, the infant mortality rate from 115 to 55 per 1,000 live births,
and the maternal mortality rate from an estimated 1,600 per 100,000 live births to 205. These are goals that
require long-term commitment and sustained investment. There is a problematic disjuncture between, on the
one hand, the time frames adopted and outputs expected by the international actors driving the women’s
rights agenda, and on the other, the length of time required for non-cosmetic changes in societal relations to
begin to take shape. This disjuncture may itself produce unintended consequences that may prove detrimental
to women unless great care is taken to pay heed to local needs and priorities.
V.
conclusion
It has been argued throughout this text that issues of
gender equity and women’s rights in Afghanistan can only
be meaningfully addressed in the context of the multiple
transitions entailed by the process of post-conflict reconstruction:
a transition from conflict and insecurity to peace, a political transition to a legitimate and effective
state, and a socioeconomic transition to sustainable economic growth. These transformations do not take
place in a social vacuum but necessarily build upon existing political, market and domestic institutions that
define both the constraints and opportunities for future developments.
There is, at present, a potentially disabling lag between the different facets of these transformations. Sustained
efforts have been made by the international community, the government of Afghanistan and local women’s
NGOs to ensure that legal and governance reforms address gender equity issues and support the civic and
political participation of women. A national machinery has been created to promote and monitor gender
mainstreaming in national development efforts, and the constitutional development process has addressed the
issue of women’s political participation. However, the security and socioeconomic conditions have not kept pace
with political and juridical reforms, resulting in a growing gap between women’s formal rights and their actual
ability to avail themselves of those rights.
Significant obstacles need to be overcome for the promises of reconstruction and national consolidation to
materialize for women. As the historical record indicates, women’s rights have always been a contested issue in
Afghanistan, with periods of reform followed by violent backlash and curtailment of rights. There are continuing
tensions between the stipulations of international human rights instruments (including CEDAW, to which the
government of Afghanistan is a signatory), Islamic jurisprudence and Afghan customary law. These tensions can
neither be addressed nor resolved without a political settlement that ensures stability and the rule of law. In
the absence of a process of national consolidation and reconciliation, there is a growing risk that women’s
rights issues will remain hostage to factional struggles, and that Islam will be deployed as a political tool rather
than a universal faith that enjoins believers to uphold ideals of social justice and equality.