13 provinces to get female deputy governors soon

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) on Monday said female deputy governors would be appointed in 13 provinces in the next 20 days.

A conference titled ‘Women’s leadership role in good governance’ was organized in Kabul today and attended by senior government officials, deputy police chiefs and mayors of a number of provinces.

Shamim Katawazi, IDLG head, said that currently 21 deputy governors, two deputy district chiefs, two deputy mayors and two government spokespersons were women. However, he did not provide further details on the regard.

In the next 20 days, he said, women would be appointed on the remaining 13 deputy governor positions. He said IDLG would appoint more women to deputy district chief positions for increasing their partnership in the government.

Hasina Safi, acting women affairs minister, told the conference that the Afghan women had found their positions in the government.

Pointing to women serving as deputy governors, said, “You in provinces go to rural areas and villages and listen to problems of women and share them with the central government, so it would brighten your role in the government and help women solve their problems.”

Karima Hamid Faryabi, economy minister, talking about women’s role, said that women’s role in social, economic and political areas was important and their absence in the mentioned parts meant paralyzed society.

However, she said that women had little presence in economic activities as only 16.6 percent of them worked in a population of around 33 million.

Shabnam Salehi, a commissioner of Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said that good governance could be ensured if all segments of the society, including women, worked in different areas.

She said that women had only 7.7 percent role in government’s decision making which she added was insufficient and there was need for higher role of the gender in the area.

Mds/ma