By Jerome Starkey in Kabul
MILLIONS of Afghan women will be denied their chance to vote in landmark presidential elections this week, because there aren’t enough female officials to staff the women-only polling station.
A desperate shortage of female staff is threatening to undermine the legitimacy of the elections, which are the pinnacle of western-led efforts to build a peaceful democracy. Strict cultural norms mean women can’t vote in male-run station.
Women’s activists said the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which is organising the polls, still needs to recruit 13,000 women before election day on Thursday. The IEC refused to comment on recruitment figures, but papers leaked to The Scotsman suggest the shortfall may be much worse, at more than 42,000.
Without female staff to operate the strictly segregated stations, and more importantly, without female searchers to frisk women voters as they arrive at those stations, conservative men across the country will ban their wives and daughters from taking part.
“If half of the population can’t participate, the election is illegitimate,” said Orzala Ashref, a director of the Afghan Women’s Network. “Without women’s votes, without women’s participation, of course the election is not going to be valid.”
Under the Taleban, women were banned from working, beaten for laughing, and only allowed outside their homes with a male relative to escort them. Improving women’s rights has been a central pillar of the US-led mission, but in many parts of the country medieval customs still prevail and women are treated like property.
“You need female staff,” said leading women’s rights activist Wazhma Frogh. “Otherwise women won’t dare go out. Their families won’t let them.” (Read more)
