Womankind in Afghanistan
Surya, Afghanistan
Womankind’s work in Afghanistan aims to:
- Empower women to ensure full participation from national to local level
- Eliminate violence against women.
To achieve this Womankind and our partners are addressing the underlying causes of discrimination against women in two main ways.
Eliminating and raising awareness on violence against women
The situation
Women’s rights are severely compromised by a combination of traditional customs and rigid interpretation of Shari’a Law:
- Women have a very low public profile and very low literacy rates.
- At some point in their lives, 81% of all women in Afghanistan will experience domestic violence.
- 80% of Afghan women cannot read or write, and only 2% of Afghan women have formal identity cards.
- The government has minimal reach and women’s access to essential services such as healthcare, clean water, education and job training are extremely limited.
What Womankind is doing
We are working with our partners to:
- Enable women to become skilled active members of their society
- Promote the culture of and provide free legal aid services to women facing domestic violence
Raising women’s voice in decision making
The situation
Cultural norms in the country limit women’s involvement in the public arena. While national development plans and legislation exist to address the needs of women, the system does not provide effective protection for them, including those who are subject to discrimination and abuse.
What Womankind is doing
We are working with our partners to:
Legacy of Past Projects
Womankind recently completed a different project with our partner AWRC. This project dealt with increasing women’s participation in the public sphere at the local and national level. Click here to read more about it.
How you can help
£22 could pay for an awareness raising workshop on women’s rights within Islam and the Afghanistan constitution. You can help by giving today.
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