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01/16/2004: "Kandahar Chronicles #57 - 14/01/2004"

“Afghanistan without educated women is like a bird with one wing.”
-Female Afghan NGO worker

We’re trying to find an Afhan female doctor or midwife to act as supervisor for the Obstetrics and Gynecological ward at Mirwais Hospital. I had found a good candidate from our staff act as a translator for our expat medical team, but the supervisor role will be a tougher one to fill. I’ve just finished having a cup of tea with the PC, Jan Peter, and he told me that with a “salary cap” being initiated by the MOH, finding female medical professionals should now become possible. The situation now means that Afghan female doctors, who are rare and highly prized, have traditionally been snapped up by big budget organizations like WHO and UNICEF. MSF, which is well funded through private donations, tends to put its money more into the programs and pay slightly lower salaries to both its international and national staffs. There has never been a problem finding highly qualified people to fill these positions but in the traditionally conservative area of Southern Afghanistan, it has meant that most female doctors tend to find positions in Kabul or other less restrictive and more lucrative areas of the country.


Some background. Under the Taliban controlled areas of the country, Afghan women and girls were forbidden to go to school or to be teachers. Females were rarely allowed to leave the immediate vicinity of their home and then only with a male relative as an escort. The body encompassing burqua had to be worn under the threat of severe punishment. A list of severe directives were issued by the Taliban PVPV (Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) and published. The list is for a later entry but, in short, a woman found violating any of these was severely punished and her family held responsible for her behavior. This strict Taliban imposed version of Shiria Law greatly restricted the freedoms and rights of women and ensured that the best they could hope for was a life as a virtual prisoner in their own home. However, even before Shiria law was imposed, the patriarchal society of Afghanistan meant that women were defined by their relationship with a close male member of their family. Furthermore, the Pashtun tribal code, the Pashtunwali, emphasizes the role of women as objects of male pride. For women who lost husbands, brothers and fathers in the twenty-three years of war, life was especially bleak.

One area of employment remained open to women during this period. There are many sad stories of women who were left untreated or died from lack of medical help, stemming largely from male doctors being prohibited from dealing with female patients suffering from specific female problems. This lead to a realization that some women had to receive education in order to act as nurses and midwives. As a result, despite widespread female illiteracy, there are a number of women capable of diagnosing and treating women in the present workforce. Rather than try to write about the wide-ranging issues resulting from the oppression of women’s rights, I will try to focus on one aspect as it affects us directly. Female health workers are pioneers in the south, and integral to our work here. One of our midwives, ‘Hamila’, has agreed to tell me her story of her life as a health worker. Although we have a friendly relationship, she has been understandably reluctant to speak about any personal aspects of her life outside of work. Still, I’m curious to see if, in an Afghan case, one can be so easily separated from the other. Her story soon.