Women candidates in Afghan elections visit Finnish Parliament
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By Tanja Vasama
"The basis of the discussion in the plenary session is our report, not the government's original proposal", explains Committee Councillor Ritva Bäckström. "The proposal is almost always approved with the changes that have been made in the committee."
It is 11:14 on Monday morning. Saima Khogyani turns the page of her notebook. The most recent entries in the book concern the Parliament's Employment and Equality Committee.
The members of the visiting Afghan group are all candidates in the first Parliamentary elections in the history of Afghanistan, which are to be held in September after a number of delays.
The group is in Finland for about a week at the invitation of Parliament and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and is here to study the intricacies of the work of Parliament.
"Thus, we are of the opinion that the committees are, in fact, the heart of Parliament", Bäckström says, summing up the report to the guests from afar.
Saima Khogyani has a clear vision of what a parliament means, even though there has never been such an institution in her country.
"Parliament is a place where the real representatives of the people work", Khogyani said before the beginning of the day in Parliament. "Parliament should be a place where the political, social, and cultural needs of our society are met."
Khogyani, who comes from the eastern city of Jalalabad, leads an organisation called the Independent Parliamentarian Association of Afghan Women (IPAAW). The organisation teaches Afghanis about the importance of Parliament, and especially women Parliamentarians. Khogyani has received training for this from a German organisation.
"But that was theory. Here we can see Parliament working in practice: we learn what the place of the Parliamentary Speaker is, for instance."
As an MP, Khogyani would like to focus primarily on the rights of women.
"The first thing is to deal with women's education and health care. Unfortunately we do not have electricity or good roads. Children go to school in the open air. There is no clean drinking water. When these matters are taken care of, we will see what we do", Khogyani says.
The list of tasks is considerable, but Khogyani appears to be a woman who can get things done. At the age of 33 she has had a long career as a teacher - some of it in secret at home during the Taleban administration. She has also worked in international and Afghan non-governmental organisations. Her credits also include participation in the Loya Jurga tribal council, drafting the constitution, and working for the electoral campaign of President Hamid Karzai.
In addition to IPAAW, Khogyani works for the Voice of America radio station.
She has been too busy to get married.
The visit to the Employment and Equality Committee has reached the question-and-answer phase. Khogyan's colleague Zia Kakar wants to know what kinds of equality problems Finland has had.
Ritva Bäckström says that there is still a 20% gap in men's and women's wages.
The answer livens up the group, which has been fairly silent for the whole morning. It is all Bäckström can do to explain why women still find it difficult to reach high positions in Finland. It is not possible to eliminate the pay differences between genders with legislation alone, as the matter is very complicated.
"You have a wonderful history, and nevertheless, women have difficulties. It makes me sad", declares Farima Worokazai.
In Afghanistan, pay differentials between the genders are not the topmost equality issues. For many men, the idea of women working - to say nothing of their running in elections - is still impossible to fathom.
"At one training session in Jalalabad three of my uncles showed up. They left in the middle of the meeting, because they felt that my candidacy had shamed the whole family", Khogyani says.
In addition to women, men have to be educated, because they still want to decide whom their wives or daughters should vote for.
Women cannot campaign everywhere, because there are places where the safety of candidates cannot be guaranteed. "Weapons and financing are a problem for us."
At lunch, the group of candidates get instruction from Equality Ombudsman Päivi Romanov, and from Hannele Varsa, Secretary-General of the Equality Committee.
Saima Khogyan feels that the meeting is very useful, just as all of the other events of recent days.
However, it remains a fact that at home, the candidates are wrestling with very different problems. Some of the nearly 3,000 candidates in Afghanistan have probably committed human rights violations, but people are afraid to open their mouths and complain about them.
Khogyani is aware that the work requires compromises.
"I am satisfied, if the elections are even half democratic after 25 years of war."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 31.5.2005
TANJA VASAMA / Helsingin Sanomat
tanja.vasama@hs.fi
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| 7.6.2005 - THIS WEEK |
 Women candidates in Afghan elections visit Finnish Parliament |
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