WOMEN MPS RECEIVE MUCH ATTENTION, FACE MORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 001753

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/FO, S/CT, SA/A, G KATE FRIEDRICH, G/IWI
CHARLOTTE PONTICELLI AND DIANNE GRAHAM
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND
CENTCOM FOR POLAD, CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76
TREASURY FOR LMCDONALD, WBALDRIDGE, APARAMESWARAN, ABAUKOL
STATE PASS USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/18/2011
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM KWMN AF
SUBJECT: WOMEN MPS RECEIVE MUCH ATTENTION, FACE MORE
CHALLENGES

Classified By: POLITICAL COUNSELOR ANGUS SIMMONS FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AN
D (D)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Women in the Afghan National Assembly face
many challenges: political divisions, sometimes uncoordinated
aid efforts, and traditional attitudes. Women are vocal and
regular contributors to debate, and hold some key leadership
positions, but it is unclear what their impact will be in
terms of votes. While some women have begun to see the
benefits of pooling resources, it will take some time before
they are able to work together to draft and pass legislation
on issues such as violence against women. In order to
maximize support for women, however, international aid will
need to become better coordinated. END SUMMARY.

Challenges
--------------


2. (SBU) In addition to facing discrimination and lack of
access to resources under the Taliban and during years of
civil war, women members of Parliament face several special
challenges. As working women, MPs need to find education and
child care for their families in a new environment. The
challenge has led some women to split their families - with
some husbands and some children living in their home
provinces, and other children living with the MP in Kabul.
Many women have stated that they were unable to attend
training or other events for MPs either because the events
were held at night or because of transportation difficulties.
Women MPs are also facing challenges from some of their male
colleagues. Although a trip by women to the US went as
scheduled, a trip for ten women to Italy for training
scheduled for February was canceled after conservative MPs
raised objections to an all-female trip. Parliament has also
debated, but not voted on, requiring women MPs travel
overseas with mahrams (escorts from their family).


3. (C) While small groups of like-minded women have formed
support groups, women in Parliament are currently divided
into several smaller groups along regional or personality
lines. As with all other groupings in parliament, no single
group can be outlined with certainty - all are in flux, with
women joining and leaving or making commitments to multiple
groups with high frequency. Problems range from the
practical to the psychological. One obstacle that women MPs
cite is a lack of trust among many women themselves. Women
parliamentarians chide themselves for not listening to each
other and respecting each other's rights and opinions in
debate. Some of the leading women in Parliament point to the
fact that right now women see each other as much as rivals as
allies, in competition for support as well as perks such as
trips to foreign countries. Traditional opposition to
parties and a lack of understanding of the role of caucuses
has also hampered efforts to organize. Political parties are
viewed as one of the causes of civil war, and many MPs of
both genders are hesitant to ally themselves with groups that
could be perceived as a traditional party. In addition,
since most parties are currently seen as support groups for
individuals rather than ideology-based organizations, most
MPs are hesitant to align themselves with the self-appointed
leaders of certain groups. Overall, women remain focused on
themselves as individuals, rather than as a group.

Donor Competition, not Coordination
--------------


4. (SBU) The great need presented by women MPs and intense
interest from all sides in supporting them has led to a
multitude of sometimes-competing programs to train women MPs.
Most of these programs in and of themselves are very
valuable, but to date little coordination has taken place
between donors interested in assisting female
parliamentarians, leaving little guarantee that donors are

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reaching all MPs and creating confusion among them regarding
the different leadership or technical training offered.


5. (U) UNIFEM is the largest donor supporting women MPs, and
has developed a comprehensive two-year training program for
women parliamentarians, including leadership training, caucus
organization, technical assistance, and exchanges with other
countries (including a trip for six women MPs to Sweden).
UNIFEM, in coordination with UNDP, is also building a women's
center near parliament that will provide meeting space,
internet access, and perhaps secretarial support to women
MPs. USAID, through its partner the State University of New
York (SUNY) has complementary plans to train female MPs on
more procedural matters: legislative process and advocacy.
USAID is also funding a plan from the International
Republican Institute (IRI) to build a women's caucus and
provide training to women MPs, but it is not scheduled to
begin for several months.


6. (U) There are a large number of shorter-term programs to
assist women MPs as well. The National Endowment for
Democracy, through the National Democratic Institute (NDI),
is funding a program to create a women's caucus, which is
currently separate from the UNIFEM-sponsored caucus.
Afghanistan Libre, a French/Belgian NGO, sponsored several
weeks of "gender budgeting" training, teaching women how to
incorporate women's rights into their budget. Former
Ambassador Swanee Hunt's organization offered a one-day
leadership training in March, as have several other
international NGOs. In addition, the French-Afghan Chamber
of Commerce, with support from the US Embassy in Paris, is
sponsoring a trip to France and conference for all women MPs
in June.


7. (C) The effectiveness of these programs thus far has been
mixed. While women MPs have cited experience gained on
international trips as very beneficial, other programs have
not been as well-received. The large number of disparate
programs is one significant problem. For example, both NDI
and UNIFEM have separate efforts to create a women's caucus.
Although each employs a different methodology, both groups
have gathered only around 20 women to their caucus. Other
minor conflicts have also arisen. For example, NDI sponsored
budget training for the women's caucus, but through a
different trainer than SUNY is using to train the rest of the
budget committee. Some assistance is also premature. The
gender budgeting program sponsored by Afghanistan Libre, for
example, is not likely to have much of an impact in an
environment where few MPs understand how a budget works at
all. This has led Safora Yalkhani, an MP from Bamyan who is
serving as the coordinator for the NDI caucus, to comment in
frustration that the training for women MPs to date has only
been symbolic - a waste of time and money. She requests
longer-term courses on substantive issues rather than
short-term efforts.


8. (SBU) Parliament itself has taken some steps to coordinate
donor assistance - the lower house (Wolesi Jirga),for
example, has created an overall training plan for all MPs.
SUNY has also hired an assistant to Deputy Speaker Fawzia
Koofi to serve on a six-month contract as coordinator for
donor assistance. Post is currently working with Koofi and
other women MPs to encourage them to develop a similar
training plan for women and to only accept training offers
that work in line with that plan.

Some Positive Signs Emerge
--------------


9. (U) While the challenges to organizing and effectively
supporting women in Parliament are many, and formal
organization efforts are only getting off the ground, several
signs indicate the positive impact that aid can have. After

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President Karzai proposed a cabinet consisting of 25
Ministries and only one female Minister, Parliament spent its
next public session discussing the need for more women in the
Cabinet. Both men and women MPs noted that there are many
qualified women who could run a Ministry. The next day, a
group of women MPs met with the President. According to
Dilbar Nazari (WJ-Samangan),who participated in a six-person
visit of women MPs to the US, she remembered the advice
Secretary Rice gave during a meeting - that the most

SIPDIS
important thing for women to do is organize themselves - and
worked with her colleagues prior to the meeting to decide who
would speak during the session and what points they wanted to
emphasize, so that they could make a coherent, effective
presentation to Karzai.


10. (U) Within the Parliament, women MPs are treated as
colleagues, sitting next to men (including more conservative
male elders) in session and during more informal gatherings
in the Parliament cafeteria at lunch. This in itself is a
gain for women, and a sign of their acceptance, that could
not be taken for granted at the inauguration of Parliament.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) Many of the women in Parliament are impressive
individuals with extensive accomplishments in their prior
careers, but few have any prior experience in politics. This
has led to confusion by many as to what their role in
parliament should be, and overly high expectations by some
about what they should do and what the international
community can do for them. For example, at a recent tea
hosted by Post and attended by almost all women MPs, women
expected everything from a US solution to conflict between
Afghanistan and Pakistan to a trip for themselves to the US.
On the other hand, the most commonly cited benefit of
international training for women MPs is that it provided them
a chance to interact with members of established Parliaments,
giving them a clear idea of roles and responsibilities.
Understanding their role is something that can only be
learned on the job, and will resolve itself with time and
experience, not necessarily training.


12. (C) Men in parliament share many of the same difficulties
as women (lack of a legal or budget background, for example),
but are not receiving as much attention in terms of aid.
While men and women MPs mostly show an easy rapport in the
halls of Parliament, the almost exclusive reservation of the
most highly-sought-after perk (overseas trips) for women
could easily backfire against women in Parliament. Aside
from a trip to Dubai organized by UNDP for all MPs in the
upper house of Parliament, the US is currently the only donor
planning "study tours" for male members of Parliament in
addition to women. In addition, USAID has geared its
technical assistance to committees, taking pains to ensure
that women participate in these mixed-gender programs rather
than creating training just for women. Without such a focus,
programs risk engendering a backlash against women MPs,
rather than assisting them. END COMMENT.
Norland