Afghanistan

Real lives

Women work to tackle illiteracy in Afghanistan

Illiteracy is the single greatest barrier to women’s progress in Afghanistan, according to a report recently released by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Kofi Annan. After seven years of fundamentalist rule in which the Taliban government denied women the right to an education, an estimated 79 per cent of women and girls in Afghanistan cannot read.

In a small, dank room known as the Department of Literacy in Kabul’s city centre, a team of women, supported by two male graphic artists, is working to change that. As part of an initiative launched by the Afghan Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Save the Children US, they are working to produce Afghanistan’s first literacy textbook for women.

The book will have 10 chapters, covering issues such as family life, raising healthy children, housekeeping, marriage and good nutrition, all within an Islamic context that promotes tolerance and understanding.

According to UNICEF Education Officer Freshta Taj, the process of creating the textbook has helped improve the women’s self-esteem. “The women were very unsure of themselves at first,” Taj says. “But even after the first week, you could see their confidence grow. They really began to develop a sense of ownership and control over the workshops and have more confidence in their abilities. They took on more and more responsibility for the work, even setting up discussions about their concerns and ideas with senior Ministry of Education officials. This self-awareness is carried over to their home lives as well; the women feel more able to deal with issues that affect them in their daily life.”

Director of the Department of Literacy, Najia Zara, sees the initiative as a vital step in building the status and role of women in Afghan society.

“Afghan women have suffered through more than 20 years of war,” says Zara. “The doors of schools and centres for women have been closed for all these years and educational opportunities for women collapsed. Now these doors are opening again; women understand the importance of literacy and want to avail themselves of this new opportunity – and if women are to play a full role in Afghan society they need to have that literacy.”

The textbook is due for completion and final approval in the early summer of 2003, after which women’s literacy courses will begin.

Many women now find themselves head of households as they have lost fathers, husbands and brothers in the conflict. Improved literacy creates new opportunities for finding employment and is also expected to improve women’s health. Above all, raising levels of literacy amongst women helps to tackle discrimination and abuse.

“When women become literate,” says Zara. “They will be better able to understand their immediate environment, their social environment as well as being effective actors in the rehabilitation of the country and the Government.”