# Column II -5 Improvement of the Status of Women in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, approximately 70% of the population earns less than two dollars per day. In particular, women live under very unfavorable conditions according to several statistics. As women have been denied access to education and employment, approximately 90% of them are illiterate, while only 30% of them go to school. The maternal mortality rate is the second highest in the world. One woman dies every 30 minutes or so due to a problem related to maternity or childbirth. Although laws protect the rights of women and ensure the equality between the sexes, discriminatory treatment of women still persists, causing such problems as forced marriage, child marriage, self-burning to death in order to escape forced marriage, and domestic violence.

Against this backdrop, the Afghanistan government has been making efforts to realize gender equality. For example, it established the Ministry of Women's Affairs

Literacy education to female students at Karinda Village School

in 2001 to devise policies aiming at gender mainstreaming (referring to incorporating gender perspectives in various programs and measures). In addition, the Afghanistan government established a new constitution in January 2004, which guarantees gender equality, the right of women to participate in politics, and women's access to higher education. Furthermore, Afghanistan unconditionally ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2003, which is a comprehensive international agreement to pursue gender equality.

To assist Afghanistan's efforts to pursue gender equality, Japan placed a high priority on the improvement of women's status in Afghanistan in its assistance to the country and provided support in many forms. To the Ministry of Women's Affairs, which was established to promote gender equality, Japan has sent eight experts in total since 2002. The experts helped create the organization structure of the newly established Ministry and devise annual plans. They also assisted the Minister to prepare budgets and policies. Such assistance was given in

an effort to improve the systems and the capabilities of the Ministry so that the Ministry can promote gender mainstreaming at a policy level. Japan has also assisted the establishment of regional offices of the Ministry in order to encourage gender mainstreaming in rural areas, where most Afghans live.

Regarding the drafting of the above-mentioned new constitution, Japan sent experts to the committee in charge of drafting the constitution. The experts are giving advice to the committee from the viewpoint of legal protection of women. Japan is also providing assistance through international organizations for the voter registration for an election scheduled to be conducted under the new constitution. In the course of promoting the voter registration, in order to encourage women to come to registration places to register as voters, hindrances to women's voter registration were

Sewing training to women at JEN carpet weaving center

removed. The promotion of women's voter registration is very important in ensuring women's participation in politics. Since women have long been excluded from politics, it was necessary to explain to them the meaning of "voter registration" and "election" in order to help women deepen their understanding about the participation in politics and thereby expand their participation. As a result of Japan's promotion of women's voter registration, women accounted for approximately 40% of the total Afghans registered as voters. Such a high rate of women's voter registration is unprecedented in Afghanistan.

In the field of healthcare, Japan offered training to midwives in an attempt to lower the maternal mortality rate. In addition, Japan provided Grassroots Human Security Grant Aid for the construction of schools in locations convenient for female students to commute and for the operation of soap factories run by women and the provision of sewing training and literacy education to women in order to support the economic independence of women, whose access to employment is still very limited. In this way, Japan has been supporting Afghanistan's efforts for gender equality at both policy and project levels.