Karokhail shared her thoughts in an interview with EWI.

PN: There is also an upcoming peace jirga scheduled to take place on May 29, 2010. Are female MPs involved?

SK: There will be women MPs and there will also be a few women representatives coming from the provincial councils. The civil society has also allocated seats for women and we will try to bring around fifteen women. Number-wise it’s not very bad, but we are very much concerned with the way women will be chosen to participate to the peace jirga. My suggestion, for which I was strongly advocating, was that women should be chosen by women and not by governmental organizations. If women are chosen by the government, then they will speak government‘s language and not women’s language. We cannot just send any woman to the peace jirga! What kind of woman is going to sit in the council is very important, as well as how she should speak and how she should advocate women’s rights. The final statement of the council is very important for women and we should not do something that will badly affect our achievements.

PN: Could you maybe explain to our readers what are the challenges that female MPs face in Afghanistan?

SK: The main challenge for women MPs is their lack of independence. It is very difficult to be independent, because of the many social norms and traditions that a woman has to respect. And if a woman wants to be totally independent and make decisions by herself, there is always something to remind her that as a woman she is not very respected. For example, whenever a woman had a suggestion for ministerial positions, the Commission gave much more value to men’s suggestions and just shut down women MPs.

The Afghan parliamentary system is dominated by men and they will only give support to those women that are obedient or belong to their party or fraction. Most of the time women like to be independent and have their own agenda, because we are committed not only to the Afghan people but also to women issues. But the heads of the Commissions are mostly men and they tend to work with other men and do not include women nor do they give them equal opportunities.
On the financial side also women lack independence, and this situation limits them greatly. Men MPs usually have businesses that allow them to finance their campaign and to have private security. Women don’t have this kind of facilities and this situation limits their movement. Most of the women cannot travel because of the security situation, so they are not able to campaign properly.

Another problem women MPs have is within the Parliament and amongst women themselves. Because Afghan women are new to the parliamentary rules of procedure, they lack political insight. On the contrary, men are experienced; they know how to coordinate their efforts properly or to organize their own caucuses. This is something that women should also learn: to support each other and to bridge the political divides. I truly believe that those women that will understand this will be very successful.

PN: You have spoken about security problems that female MPs face. During the elections in 2009 most of the female candidates have had serious security problems and, because of this, there were regions where there were not enough women running for seats allocated to women. Do you think that things will be different in the upcoming parliamentary elections?

SK: As mentioned, the security situation greatly affects women’s movement. But one positive change is the recent decree that President Karzai approved. The decree clearly stipulates that if women's seats get vacant, for whatever reason, then the Commission will find a mechanism to fill these seats with women candidates. The article clearly stipulates that the seats will be filled “by the same sex”, which means “women”. This situation may not be the ideal one, but this allows us to keep the quota of female MPs in the parliament unchanged.

PN: This is very good news I believe. One last question: how do you think parliamentarians around the world can mobilize their efforts to support female MPs in Afghanistan?

SK: Well, definitely there are a lot of ways in which parliamentarians around the world can support our work. I had a meeting today with a few friends from civil societies, and we all agreed that we have to support some of the women running for Parliament. Female candidates lack the necessary material for campaigning and they lack the necessary know-how to develop their speeches. The best way to help female MPs is to target them and provide them with the type of support they need.

What I have understood after four and a half years in the parliament is that the number is not important, but rather the quality of the person we are bringing in the parliament. I am convinced that ten strong women will achieve much more than fifty-eight inefficient ones. Of course if anyone needs more information about this issue, they can contact me via email.

PN: Thank you very much for taking your time to speak with us.