Women's Literacy in Afghanistan
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Women's Literacy in Afghanistan
The discussion below took place on the National Institute for Literacy Women and Literacy electronic list in November and December, 2005 with Brenda Bell, a guest expert who at the time was working in literacy/nonformal education in Afghanistan.
From: alcdgg@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] Guest facilitator starting November 17th
Date: November 15, 2005 3:56:04 PM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
A reminder:
I am pleased and honored to announce that from November 17th-December 1st, Brenda Bell has graciously agreed to be a guest facilitator on our listserv. The focus of her time with us will be to discuss her litercy work in Afghanistan. Here is some general information about her: Brenda Bell, formerly Associate Director of the Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee, and long-time EFF manager, is in Afghanistan for several months assisting with the Literacy for Community Empowerment Program, a project of Education Development Center in partnership with UN Habitat. This is Brenda's third trip to Afghanistan in the past ten months. The LCEP, active in five Afghan provinces, links literacy with governance and economic development activities in 200 rural villages. Literacy teachers, for women's and men's classes, are from the villages, and often have less than a 10th grade education. They are supported by training and mentoring provided by facilitators at the district and national level
Daphne Greenberg
Assistant Professor
Educational Psych. & Special Ed.
Georgia State University
P.O. Box 3979
Atlanta, Georgia 30302-3979
phone: 404-651-0127
fax:404-651-4901
dgreenberg@gsu.edu
From: ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] Literacy opportunity in Afghanistan
Date: November 16, 2005 5:22:49 PM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
As you all know, tomorrow (November 17th) we will be starting our discussion with Brenda Bell on her literacy work in Afghanistan. Coincidentally, there is a job opening to work in Afghanistan on literacy issues:
Job Description
Literacy Training Specialist
(International Technical Advisor I)
EDC seeks a seasoned training professional to work as part of our dynamic, community-focused literacy activities in Afghanistan. The Training Specialist will be responsible for providing training and support to a cadre of Afghan national and local-level literacy trainers under the Literacy and Community Empowerment Project (LCEP). LCEP is an integrated community development initiative that includes components in literacy, economic empowerment and local governance in Afghanistan. This is a non-dependent posting, based in Kabul, which is funded through July 2006.
Program Summary
In August 2004, EDC and its implementing partner, UN Habitat, launched the USAID-funded Literacy and Community Empowerment Program. The goals of this two-year program are to:
1)Enhance the role of women and young people as change agents in society through increased literacy and skills for income-generation; and 2)Strengthen democratically elected institutions of civil society that give a greater voice to women and young adults, and that deepen grassroots participatory governance.
Within the Literacy component of LCEP, EDC is responsible for two inter-related sub-components: the establishment and ongoing development of a Women?s Teacher Training Institute in Kabul and the implementation of the Afghan Literacy Initiative, which currently represents the field-based literacy operations of the Institute. Both Literacy sub-components are implemented in collaboration with Afghanistan?s Ministry of Education.
The Afghan Literacy Initiative targets 65% young females, and is also open to young men and older boys. It provides learners in remote areas of the country with access to functional literacy skills in the areas of governance and economic empowerment. These skills are then reinforced when learners participate in ongoing LCEP work in governance and economic empowerment within targeted communities. A critical element of the LCEP literacy approach is that both teachers and learners build their teaching and literacy skills through lessons that encourage learners to create their own materials and learning strategies, and monitor their own progress.
The literacy component is designed to complement other LCEP components focusing on local governance, savings and credit development, and micro enterprise. Governance and economic empowerment components of LCEP are being implemented by UN Habitat.
Specific duties of the Literacy Training Specialist:
1. Develop and implement a dynamic TOT training strategy, approach and materials: Recognizing the limitations of the cascade model, the Training Specialist will work with the Literacy Team Leader and other LCEP senior staff to develop a training system that can offer maximum support and professional development for trainers while at the same time allowing for significant trainer autonomy.
2. Train and support trainers: Using a successful track record of training adult learners in a rural development context, the Training Specialist will model excellent and dynamic training techniques for all levels of the LCEP training ladder, and will spend a significant portion of his/her time in the field.
3. Provide team leadership: The Training Specialist will be responsible for managing the training aspects of our literacy work. S/he will provide day-to-day guidance and inspiration to/for Lead Trainers to assure the highest caliber of professionalism, teamwork, communication and planning.
3. Assure training excellence, cohesion and responsiveness. The Training Specialist will use her/his successful track record in training of adults to lead TOT activities that:
- recognize the potential and the current realities of LCEP trainers
- emerge from and are appropriate for daily life in rural Afghan communities;
- are learner-centered and participatory;
- use innovative teaching and learning strategies;
- build trainer and learner autonomy by encouraging self-monitoring and localized production of materials and teaching/learning strategies;
- reinforce, and are reinforced by, training practices in place in the LCEP governance and economic empowerment components.
Qualifications and Desired Skills:
- Advanced degree in a related field.
- Significant and practical technical experience rooted in state-of-the-art adult training methodologies.
- Field experience in Afghanistan or central Asia preferred.
- Excellent management, organizational, and communication skills.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate in complex situations across cultures.
- Experience in participatory community development programs.
- Excellent writing skills
- Excellent organizational skills
- Ability to work independently and as a team member.
- Language requirements: Dari and/or Pashtu language skills highly desirable.
Please submit a resume and cover letter to Barbara Garner (b.garner4@verizon.net). No phone calls please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] Literacy opportunity in Afghanistan
Date: November 17, 2005 8:51:40 AM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov, womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Hello all --
The project described in this position announcement is the one I work with -- so it provides a good introduction to the literacy work I'm involved with here in Afghanistan. I've been a consultant to LCEP for the past year and on this trip, I'm here for 11 weeks.
For the past several weeks I've been heading up an internal program evaluation, focusing on the three provinces where LCEP literacy activities have been in place since April. With team members, I've visited 16 villages in Bagram district of Parwan province, north of Kabul, and Sayghan district of Bamiyan province, west of Kabul. Others visited villages in Zindajan district of Herat province in the western part of the country. In each village, we met with the women's and men's Community Development Councils (partners in the local literacy work), observed classes, interviewed teachers, and talked with learners, members of self-help groups, and members of youth committees. What is emerging from all of our data is a picture of the beginning stages of literacy that supports the development of local community institutions -- in a country where the social fabric has been stretched thin or ripped during the decades of conflict and war. Perhaps over the coming weeks I can share with you some of the ways in which this is happening.
Earlier, when Daphne announced that women and literacy in Afghanistan would be an upcoming topic of discussion, Holly posted some questions and described her experience working with Afghan women newly arrived in the U.S., observing that they learned English quite fast while not being literate in Dari or Pashtu. In the village literacy programs that I've visited here, young people and adults are highly motivated to learn to read, write (in Dari or Pashtu, the languages of instruction) and calculate, and just to learn, period. And we see that people are learning fast. We can speculate that this is due to the strong motivation and perhaps in part to the approach and structure of the program. Holly, perhaps you can get back into this conversation with more of your questions and observations.
I will try to respond promptly to messages, but please know that my internet connection (and electricity) is not always available. I'm looking forward to discussions with you, and depending the direction our conversations take, I may ask several Afghan colleagues to join us. Also - you should know that there are other US adult literacy colleagues here in Kabul working on other projects (law and health), and I'll be glad to pull in their perspectives as well.
Warm regards -
Brenda Bell
From: djrosen@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] Literacy opportunity in Afghanistan
Date: November 17, 2005 9:39:26 AM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Hello Brenda,
Perhaps you can give us a little history of adult education in Afghanistan, focusing on women's education. For example, what was women's education in Afghanistan like twenty years ago, ten years ago, and today? How is adult education administered and delivered -- through a government nonformal education agency and nongovernmental provider organizations? How has the content of classes (or tutorials?) changed? Who are the teachers and how are they trained? How are students "recruited" ? What challenges do women students face that men may not (but also what challenges do men face)? How is education conducted when there is armed conflict?
All the best,
David
David J. Rosen
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] Literacy in Afghanistan
Date: November 19, 2005 1:21:28 AM EST
Hello David and all--
Thanks for these 'big picture' questions! I'll give some partial answers (about current systems) and in a few days, get back with some more details about the past from Afghan colleagues who know this history with regard to adult literacy efforts during the over two decades of conflict.
According to documents from the Afghan Ministry of Education, government-sponsored literacy programs started in Afghanistan in 1971. For the period 1980 -2002, there is no data available about the numbers of participants and teachers by gender. (There were literacy programs carried out by nongovernmental organizations -- it is these details that I'll try to report on later). In 1977 (the year for which gender-specific data is available), there were 395 men teachers and 36 female teachers, with ca 15,000 male students and 1,000 female students. In 2004, the Ministry's Department of Literacy and Nonformal Education reported ca.170,000 men and 215,500 women participating in literacy courses across the country, through regional and local literacy centers. While in the past there were a variety of literacy programs (general adult literacy; literacy for out of school youth; literacy for farmers, laborers, nomads, soldiers), the only ones functioning at present through the Department are general adult literacy and literacy for out of school children.
As you can imagine, there are multiple initiatives underway to address the fact that Afghanistan's literacy rates are among the lowest in the world. (For the population over 15 years of age, the basic literacy rates are estimated at 46% for men and 16% for women.) The Department of Literacy and Nonformal Education, in partnership with UNESCO, has developed a new literacy and nfe curriculum framework and materials, which are scheduled to be printed and available by the end of this year. Donor agencies (UNESCO, UNICEF and USAID, among many others) have programs that are addressing literacy needs of specific groups -- women being the largest and most needy; other 'target' groups include ethnic and linguistic minorities; poor and marginalized groups; ex-combatants; people with disabilities. Some programs are general in nature; others focus on health, micro-enterprise development or vocational preparation. And at least one (LCEP, mentioned in other emails) is focusing on the literacy needs of communities as they try to develop local resources, including governance and economic opportunities. Sometime in the near future, representatives of these governmental and nongovernmental agencies will be holding discussions about a national coordinated literacy strategy (and campaign perhaps) for Afghanistan.
In my next email, I'll give more information. Right now I have to sign off, as I've just been given a signal that the generator is going down!
Brenda
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 21, 2005 4:57:25 AM EST
Hello all -
I'm in the midst of an interesting discussion with some of the lead trainers for the Literacy and Community Empowerment Program. I posed some of David's questions about the history of literacy in Afghanistan - starting a discussion that has sent several women off to get more exact information, which they should have by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, in the interest of keeping a discussion going with you on this list, here is a summary of what a group of older Afghan women and one younger man had to say:
"The early literacy courses for adults were called 'elder literacy.' The courses lasted for 3 months and the methods used were memorization and drill. While the classes were mostly for men, there were courses for women in basic literacy and some that were related to vocational skills.
"During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the number of literacy courses increased, but according to the discussion, the level of learning dropped. "Really they were using literacy for political objectives. Literacy groups were formed but not much learning took place. They were used to implement the objectives of the government. Not many people became literate."
They also said that during the 'mujahadeen time' when the U.S. backed the mujahadeen fight against the Russians, literacy texts were also politicized. They cited the now-famous (in some circles) example of numeracy activities in which the items to be counted were guns.
"Now when we go into villages with our literacy program, some people are very suspicious. They want to make sure that our program is not going to be like other literacy programs that 'misled' the people. We tell them no, it is not the same. You can look at our teaching materials and at our lesson guides and see that this is a program that will help villagers get the skills they need to develop their communities. We are promoting peace and empowerment. And we include quotations from the Qu'ran in our materials. This helps us."
Perhaps some other members of this discussion list know some of this history and can add more!
Brenda
From: ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 21, 2005 4:04:31 PM EST
Brenda,
I am wondering whether you see an equal amount (more or less) of women and men in the literacy programs. Are the classes co-ed? Do the men and women express similar literacy goals?
Daphne
From: busems@jmu.edu
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 21, 2005 4:35:35 PM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Hi Brenda,
Has there been any attempt to meld this training with Mine Risk Education?
I worked that issue and landmines for a number of years.
Maggie Buse`
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 6:49:22 AM EST
Daphne and all --
In general, there are more women than men in literacy programs here in Afghanistan. In the government-run programs, figures for last year show about 45,000 more women than men enrolled, out of a total enrollment of about 385,500. This is not surprising, given that women were denied access to education under the Taliban government and are so eager to learn. But men are eager, too, having lived for so many years in the midst of fighting with limited educational opportunities.
Classes for women and men are held separately. There may be some places in Kabul where literacy classes are held for women and men together, but I'm not aware of them.
As for literacy goals -- I can speak most directly from my own experience with learners in the Literacy and Community Empowerment Program -- both female and male. During the recent internal evaluation field visits to 16 villages in three provinces, we talked with 409 females and 365 males, in 32 classes. Their ages ranged from 10 to over 40, with the majority in the 13-18 range. (This program is primarily for youth and young adults, though open to learners over the age of 10, with no upper age limit). In the structured discussions held with each group, we asked questions such as: why are you participating in this learning center? what do you hope to do with the skills you are learning?
The common response to the first question (why are you in this class?), from both male and female classes, was -- to learn reading, writing and math! Of course. But with further probing, the young men said things like - to be able to read letters from relatives in Iran; to read shop signs; to get skills to help my family; to have a better future; to help our country develop; to become doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, carpenters, metal workers. Young women said -- to read and write letters to relatives; to become teachers (most); doctors, engineers, shop keepers (some); to do business in the bazaar; to learn everything we can; to help our families and our community. (O course, there were many other comments -- these were the most common.)
What do you think about these responses? similar to what you would have expected?
Brenda
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 6:56:15 AM EST
Hello Maggie --
From my Afghan colleagues, I know that there has been a very active landmine education program in primary and secondary schools -- and a couple of people are trying to find out if these materials have been used in literacy classes. Your question prompted a discussion about trying to get these materials (including a chart and a simple booklet on mine education and avoidance) to distribute to the village learning centers, where learners are clamoring for more reading materials.
So -- thanks for asking!
Brenda
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] a little more information
Date: November 22, 2005 7:04:38 AM EST
A brief follow up on the early history of literacy in Afghanistan. King Amanullah Khan, who ruled from 1919 to 1929, was very active in promoting education in general - and is known as the 'father of literacy' in Afghanistan for his support of literacy for adults. Under his reign, Acabar (Arabic for elder, I'm told) literacy courses were started and were widely respected, according to my colleagues. (I'll have to find out why an Arabic word was used - perhaps for religious purposes --)
Brenda
From: djrosen@comcast.net
Subject: Re: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 7:33:26 AM EST
Hello Brenda,
Do you see one underlying approach or set of principles and values used in adult literacy instruction in Afghanistan? For example, is this literacy for religious education, or is this literacy for empowerment (a Freirean model) or is this -- like a children's literacy model -- decontextualized basic skills, or do you see a contextualized approach incorporating livelihood (job skills) and daily living skills, or something else? Do you see -- as we do in the U.S. and other countries -- several different philosophical approaches being used?
Would you say the model (or models) used for women's literacy in particular focus on empowerment?
David
David J. Rosen
djrosen@comcast.net
From: b.garner4@verizon.net
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 7:43:16 AM EST
To: BBell@edc.org, womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Hi Brenda,
Folks on the list may not know that from 1999-2004, I traveled back and forth to Mali and Guinea in West Africa helping World Education establish literacy programs, in a role not unlike Brenda's.
In Mali, when we asked literacy class participants how they were using their literacy skills, a common response was: I"m not getting cheated in the market anymore. We were interested to learn that folks were using literacy immediately---before they knew the entire alphabet, for example, and in ways we wouldn't have predicted. One man explained that in their village, when they were going to share the meat of an animal, the tradition was to get a stone for each family who wanted a share. The total number of stones indicated the number of shares, thus how to divide the meat, etc. But it didn't help him remember exactly which families. Now he was writing the names of the families: making a list. A few parents showed me how they monitor their kids' homework: now they can read the date at the top of the page and question the kids if there doesn't seem to be enough written below it. What struck me was that these folks were treating literacy as a tool to use in very practical ways.
Barb Garner
(editor of NCSALL's "Focus on Basics")
From: ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 8:15:20 AM EST
You mention that the classes are segregated by gender. Are the teachers also of the same gender as the students in each class?
From: ldeyo@msh.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 9:11:06 AM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Dear Daphne,
I have been working on an integrated health and literacy program for women in Afghanistan the past 1 ½ years. In the vast majority of cases, not only do the facilitators need to be the same gender as the participants but the trainers and anyone else who might visit the class need to be female as well.
We need to tread very softly here, given the history of literacy education and the reactions towards education of females in the country. We were advised not to introduce the courses as simply literacy education or women’s education. Instead, we introduced the courses as health education and literacy classes to help gain greater acceptance in the community.
Lisa
From: busems@jmu.edu
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 9:56:33 AM EST
Great! I was the editor for the Journal of Mine Action for over five years and covered many articles on the topics as well as woman's issues in Afghanistan-it has always been a personal interest of mine as well.
Best Regards,
Maggie Buse`
From: ALCDGG@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 11:21:56 AM EST
Thanks for sharing this! What types of health issues do you discuss in your program?
From: ldeyo@msh.org
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 22, 2005 12:40:31 PM EST
They are the priorities in the country & of the Ministry of Public Health - immunization, personal and environmental hygiene, safe motherhood & birth preparedness, TB, family planning, first aid, diarrhea, malaria, and an introductory unit on germs & infections.
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: MORE RE: [WomenLiteracy] RE: literacy instruction in Afghanistan
Date: November 23, 2005 9:37:57 AM EST
David --
Here in Afghanistan you will find a variety of instructional approaches with different underlying principles, everything from a 'pure' Freirian problem-posing and analysis approach to very decontextualized direct teaching of basic skills.
From what I can tell (all materials are not available yet), the new UNESCO-Afghan Ministry of Education literacy curriculum takes a broad view of literacy skills (including verbal communication skills, reading, writing, numeracy skills, problem-solving) and encourages learners to participate in their communities and develop lifelong learning habits. Topics include religious and social values, economy, health and environment, security and human rights, agriculture and livestock, and life skills (a category that looks sort of like a mixture of pieces of EFF standards, common activities and role maps!). However, the curriculum framework that I have seen doesn't give any guidance to the teacher on how to teach in a contextualized way. There are three levels in basic literacy and three in post literacy that detail the expected reading, writing and math competencies. If any one wants more details, let me know.
To illustrate an ecclectic approach, I'll give a few details about the LCEP approach to literacy teaching. (And invite Lisa, Katy and Vickie to post information on Learning for Life, the health and literacy initiative that Lisa mentioned). During the early stages of program design, the following definition of literacy was developed by the Afghan lead trainers:
Literacy is understood as Swadimoszish tawanmandi (Dari for reading for critical understanding of one's world) rather than Amozish tawanmandi (Dari for reading and writing).
“Literacy is the fluent, context-specific and effective use of oral and written language in ways that lead to self empowerment, good governance and a deeper understanding of local knowledge, resources and skills. It is the use of the language of unity in relation to self, daily life and environment; the use of language to improve one’s self confidence and living conditions (individually and in cooperation and consultation with family and community; and the gaining of knowledge and understanding of human rights and the broadening of one’s vision and understanding of the world beyond the known and familiar.”
The program's guiding principles include, among other statements, a commitment to learner-centered, participatory teaching and learning that is purposeful and meaningful; and a commitment to developing curriculum materials that draw on the experiences and materials of daily village life
Carrying out these principles has been another matter - not impossible - but not easy. In an effort to supplement the training and support for the 386 women and men who are teaching in LCEP's village learning centers, curricululm materials have been developed that help the teacher learn how to teach in new ways and to actively involve learners - through small group activities, full group discussion, and some group projects. Teaching of reading and writing is a combination of whole language, whole word, and the Dari/Pashtu equivalent of phonemic awareness and phonics. Teachers were disturbed that instead of starting with aleph (the letter A), they started with the word salam -- the standard greeting -- and the letter S. But now most seem to like this different approach -- and were impressed that within a week, learners could read and write the phrase 'salam, Sima' - and soon moved on to their own names and short sentences. But -- teachers have become dependent on the curriculum materials developed in Kabul, and are not yet developing their own ideas, activities and materials that draw on local experiences and materials. That's the current challenge that the training and curriculum developers are addressing.
Does anyone else have difficulty living up to lofty guiding principles?
Brenda
From: alcdgg@langate.gsu.edu
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] literacy instruction in Afghanistan
Date: November 24, 2005 9:39:40 AM EST
I have a question about the Burka (not sure about the spelling-sorry). For many of us, who are not used to wearing or seeing the Burka on a daily basis, seeing the way Afghani women covered themselves during the Taliban regime was difficult. We have also heard that in many parts of Afghanistan, women continue to wear the full Burka. For many of us who are not used to wearing the Burka, we feel as if it is a women's right issue not to wear one, and yet we also know that there are women who prefer to wear it.
I was curious how/if this gets carried out in the classroom? Are the communities pretty homogeneous in their wearing of the Burka, so if you visit a female classroom, you will either see most/all wearing it, or not, depending on the community? Do the teachers by and large reflect the community too? If not, is there discussion in the classroom, discomfort, disagreement, etc. between those who do wear it and those who don't?
Please excuse me for my lack of knowledge. When I am talking about the Burka, I am hopefully using the right term for the complete covering from head to toe, with the exception of netting for the eyes. Even my description is vague, because I am going by my memory of pictures that I have seen. Perhaps this is more of an issue for women like me in the US, who are not used to covering up , and it is not such an issue for women in your classes? I wonder if women in your classes talk about the images of US/European women who do not cover up, and in fact often dress very scantily. Perhaps this is an issue for discussion with them, just like the Burka is with some of us in the States?
Thanks,
Daphne
From: BBell@edc.org
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] RE: Afghan women
Date: November 25, 2005 4:52:01 AM EST
Daphne and all --
I wish I could send some photos of the many different ways that women dress here in Afghanistan. Yes, the burqa is still worn by some women -- less so here in Kabul than in other parts of the country, but even here many women do wear the flowing blue (sometimes white) garments that cover them fully. In Kabul it is not uncommon to see women together on the street who are clearly friends but who dress differently -- one in a burqa, one in a long skirt with long jacket and a large shawl covering her head, and another in pants and jacket with a stylish scarf loosely covering her hair.
In my limited experience, there are many reasons that some women do wear the burqa. In some of the very rural villages where I've visited and talked with women, there is pressure from the local commander and/or religious leaders. There may be pressure from family members. Sometimes, women tell me they are more comfortable wearing it. And some women don't wear it. I've never pressed the issue, as I feel it is not my role to challenge.
When I was in Sayghan district of Bamian province, I saw few women in burqas. In Parwan province, I see many women in burqas. Religious conservativism is certainly one influence. Another may be level of education and/or class. I'm not knowledgeable enough to speak with any authority. I do know, however, that some of our staff (who are educated) in rural areas do wear the burqa in public, in part to do their work more easily in the villages, and for some out of tradition, pressure, or belief.
Once I was in a village about an hour north of Kabul, meeting with the women's shura, or community council. The room, in a family compound, was full of women and children -- and there was a pile of burqas in the corner. I asked how they could identify their own garment -- they all looked alike -- and they laughed - and showed me the individual stitchery they each had made on their own, a mark that identifies the owner. In the back of the room there was a poster on the wall of a beautiful (uncovered) Indian woman movie star. They saw me looking looking at the poster - and they told me - oh yes, she's our idol and all of the young women want to be like her. So .....who knows what is ahead.
In the women's literacy classes that I am familiar with, all of the women cover their hair. Because it is an all-female environment, if anyone has worn a burqa to the class, it is shed the moment she walks in the door. But often the class is close enough to home that women don't wear them. I don't know if the teachers (who are residents of the villages where they teach) and learners ever discuss Western women -- probably they do after someone like me leaves! - but I'm always dressed appropriately (head covered, though I often take off my scarf once inside). In cities where there is access to television, I know the topic must come up. I'll ask some of the staff and get back to you.
For me, the issue is not what women are wearing but what they are thinking and doing. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to get to know rural Afghan women who are working hard to educate themselves, improve their communities, and hold their families together. In my experience, they usually have a great sense of humor, a high degree of resiliency, and a lot of fortitude.
One more thing -- a two-day conference on eliminating violence against women was held this week. An Afghan colleague participated in the drafting of the conference declaration, and I'll try to get a copy to post to the list.
Brenda
From: djrosen@comcast.net
Subject: [WomenLiteracy] Women's Literacy in Afghanistan Discussion Archived on Adult literacy education Wiki
Date: November 25, 2005 8:26:34 AM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Hello Daphne, Brenda and others,
The discussion on Women's Literacy in Afghanistan is being archived on the Adult Literacy Education Wiki, in a new topic area, "World Literacy and Nonformal Education." You will find this at:
http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/Women%27s_Literacy_in_Afghanistan
This enables those who are new to the discussion to catch up, and others, who find the discussion after it has taken place, to still benefit.
The new ALE Wiki area needs an Area Leader, someone who is interested in helping develop and promote World Literacy and Nonformal Education. If you are interested, wherever you may live, e-mail me. And, of course, anyone can add new material -- or edit --the ALE Wiki. For more information go to http://wiki.literacytent.org
David J. Rosen
djrosen@comcast.net
From: lalumineuse@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: [WomenLiteracy] More on literacy programs in Afghanistan
Date: November 26, 2005 8:41:39 AM EST
To: womenliteracy@dev.nifl.gov
Dear All,
One thing that poor women have told me through out my work in India and Pakistan (we also fund a programme in Afghanistan), apropos literacy. They make a clear distinction between education which they see as formal schooling, and literacy. To them, in their words, literacy is a way of 'decoding the city', and getting the better of the moneylender, and 'not feeling invisible in a world of words'. Whenever maths was taught through pricing, loans owed to a moneylender, and literacy taught through health, writing petitions, signing, that's when literacy gained importance. If it was not linked to practical, everyday survival, it was not interesting at all. In one slum, I still recall, we were told that if these 'education skills' did not lead to employment or better lives, they were no use to them.
I found this to be true with immigrants to the US: they wanted to learn English and sound American because it meant a better life and employment in their new country.
Regards,
Ujwala
Continue on to page 2 of this discussion Women's Literacy in Afghanistan Page 2
