Afghan women take up a dangerous job - campaigning

Star Tribune

• How to lobby men? It was a question that many of Afghanistan's female candidates in next month's landmark elections wanted answered. Many were unsure how to campaign to male voters in a highly segregated society that bars women from talking to men alone unless they are related. "If we're seen chatting with men, people will assume we're having love affairs with them," said Kubra Mostafavy, 36.

• The answer? Nasrine Gross, an Afghan-American who has led a series of training seminars across the country for female candidates, said it was simple: Go through their wives. "Make friends with women by meeting them at the bakery, or the hair salon, or the river where they wash clothes and ask if you can meet their husbands to tell them about your campaign," she told the hopeful politicians. "But when you meet the men, make sure you talk to them in front of their wives so there are no nasty rumors."

• Threats: Another challenge for female candidates in this deeply conservative Muslim country is security. Taliban rebels have threatened to kill women if they take part in the Sept. 18 election. Women complain they also have been threatened by rival male candidates.

• One woman's story: "The militants phone me all the time, threatening to kill me. One day while driving, two men on a motorbike even pulled up next to me and pulled out a gun to intimidate me," said Shaheeda Hussain, an independent candidate in southern Kandahar city. "But I am determined to work for women's rights."

• Long strides: Before U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power in 2001, women were barred from working and girls from studying. Women were unable to travel without a male relative accompanying them, and if they were caught outside without wearing an all-encompassing burqa, they were often beaten.

• Road ahead: A few lucky women won't need to campaign. About a quarter of all seats in both the new national legislature and provincial assemblies are reserved for them in an effort to promote women's involvement in politics.

Still, while the new constitution guarantees gender equality, President Hamid Karzai's government has little authority in many rural areas to enforce it.