Discourses on Gender-Focused Aid in the Aftermath of Conflict

339 Pages·2014·10.1 MB·English

Afghanistan Gozargah:
Discourses on Gender-Focused Aid
in the Aftermath of Conflict
Lina Abircfeh
April 2008
PhD Candidate
Student Number; 200320541
Development Studies Institute (DESTIN)
London School of Economics
and Political Science (LSE)
UMl Number: U613390
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Lina Abircfeh
April 2008
Abstract
This research addresses gender-focused international aid in Afghanistan in the
aftermath of conflict, focusing on the period of the Bonn Agreement (December 2001
- September 2005). The investigation begins with a contextualized understanding of
women in Afghanistan to better understand their role in social transformations
throughout history. This history is in some measure incompatible with the discourse on
Afghan women that was created by aid institutions to justify aid interventions. Such a
discourse denied Afghan women’s agency, abstracting them from their historical and
social contexts. In so doing, space was created tor the proposed intervention using a
discourse of transformation. This discourse sought to 'empower' and 'liberate' Afghan
women, yet implementation of interventions did not reflect such goals, nor the reality of
the Gozargah (transition, juncture). This research illuminates the discourses animating
gender-focused international aid in the aftermath of conflict in Afghanistan and the
effects of these discourses on the gender order.
This political and institutional ethnography was conducted first through an examination
of policy texts and media discourses, then through an investigation of program
practice through the perspectives of policy-makers and policy implementors. The
findings were then weighed against the perspectives and experiences of women and
men in Afghanistan. This research employs a gender analysis to illustrate the story of an
aid intervention, starting with how it was represented at the highest levels to how it was
understood at the lowest levels. This story reveals that first, Afghan women have been
neither 'empowered' nor 'liberated' because the discourse on Afghan women was
not historically and socially contextualized. This is further compounded by aid
interventions that addressed political - and highly politicized - gender concerns with
technical aid responses. The result is that promises of strategic transformations tell short
of their goal, resulting in unintended effects in the form of continued insecurities tor
Afghan women.
Dedication
ForM&D: who humored my bohemian tendencies and held down the fort (read:
paid the bills) in my absence. Thank you for understanding when I
needed to go - and for letting me go.
For Ru: who might never understand my bizarre lifestyle choices but still is in so
many ways the kind of person I’d like to be when I grow up.
For Beyt Shami and Haddadin:
who remind me every day why I love home.
Also for:
Almuf: who gave me a good German kick in the patlun to get this going.
CK: who gave me a place to live while I wrote - and made it a home.
PK: who provided positive energy - and tech support.
Lynel: who kept after me to just do it - and to worry about the rest later.
Grefchen: who tirelessly read every word - several times.
Jo: who guided me gently in the right direction when I was going off course.
Wais: who kept me alive that first year. There is no Afghanistan without you,
brother. You are missed.
Finally, for the Afghan women I've had the privilege to work with:
Yours is the most exciting, exhilarating (and exhausting!) adventure I
have been on. Thank you for teaching me the value of humility, for
sharing your ways, and for inspiring me with your spirit.
B’aman Khoda.
I wish you peace.
Table of Contents
I. Framing and Contextualizing the Research
• Research Questions and Framework
1. Introduction to the Afghan Context
• Why Afghanistan?
• Afghan Women and Men Today
2. Operationalizing Key Concepts
• Aid in the Aftermath
• The Gender Order
3. Historical Overview of Women in Afghanistan
• Modernization and Modernity
• Women’s Honor
• Enter International Community
4. A Series of ‘Events’
• The Bonn Process
• Post-Bonn Processes
• The Aid Apparatus in Perspective
5. Methodology and Structure
• Structure of the Thesis
II. Theories of Transformation and the Gender Order......................................................28
1. Formulation: Theories of the Gender Order and Discourses on Women
• Patriarchy and the Gender Order
2. Interpretation: Transformation of the Gender Order
• The ‘Empowerment’ Act
• An Afghan Feminism
3. Implementation: Technical or Political Interventions
4. Unintended Effects
Conclusions
III. Gender Policy on Paper Transformation In Texts........................................................50
1. Trends and Themes
• The GAG, the AGG, and the GSG
• Themes for Analysis
2. Policy Formulation: International Textual Analysis
• UNAMA
• USAID
o Women’s Resource Centers
• UNIFEM
• UNDP
• World Bank
3. Policy Formulation: Afghan Textual Analysis
• The Interim Afghanistan National Development Strategy
• The National Action Plan for Women in Afghanistan
4. Analysis
Conclusions
IV. Discourses, Discussions, images, and Perceptions.....................................................82
1. International Perceptions
• ‘Liberation’ and the Media Narrative
• Literature on Afghan Women
o Campaign Against the ‘Body Bag'
• Popular Perceptions ot Afghan Women
• Can We See ‘Beneath the Bourka' Yet?
2. Afghan Perspectives on the Aid Apparatus
• Chaddari Politics
Conclusions
V. Gender Policy in Practice: Formulation, Interpretation, Implementation................102
1. Policy Formulation: Gender in Social Context
• Animating ‘Gender’ in the Aid Apparatus
• Opportunity Lost: Reaching Out to Men
2. Policy Interpretation: Afghan Women’s Agency and the Myth of Liberation
• Agency Denied
• An Agenda of Social Change
• A Democratic and Gender-Sensitive State
3. Policy Implementation: Practical Solutions
• Gender Anti-Politics
• Poultry Projects for ‘Empowerment’
• Practical and Strategic Interventions
• Measuring Empowerment
Conclusions
VI. Identity Markers and the Gender Order....................................................................130
1. An Identity in Crisis
• Afghan Identities
• The Role of Islam
• Afghaniyat and Other Markers
2. Sex and Gender
• Nang: Women
• Namoos: Men
4. Mamus: Roles and Relations
• The Gender Order in Historical Perspective
• Changes
• Common Themes
Conclusions
VII. Honor, Agency, Aid......................................................................................................156
1. Honor
• Defending the Pashfunwali
• Ghayraf: Protection ot Honor
2. Agency
• Strength and Resilience
3. Aid
• On Afghan Terms
4. Engagement with Men
• Dar be Dan Are Men Included?
• This Rood Leads to Turkestan
• Alam, Aman, and Ahmadi: Men Speak Out
5. Implications at Family and Community Levels
• Inja Afghanistan Asf: Protiles of Women and Couples
Conclusions
VIII. Effects of Discourses on the Gender Order..............................................................184
1. Violence in Afghanistan's Aftermath
2. Understanding Violence in the Aftermath
• Data and Assumptions
• Forms and Patterns
• Other Countries and Cases
3. Evidence of Violence as an Unintended Effect
• Perceptions
• Afghan Voices on Violence
• Documented Cases
Conclusions
IX. Ideological Occupations and Gender Anti-Politics in the Aftermath.....................206
1. Roles, Relations, and Opportunities
• What Space Does Conflict Create?
2. Interventions, Implications, and Occupations
• Understanding Context
• A New Occupation of Afghanistan
• Continued Insecurities
o Shabnam: Increased Insecurity in Education
• Back to the Beginning
3. The Personal is Still Political
• Freedom for Women: Only Words
• Possible Avenues for Future Research
Appendices
1. Methodology ...............................................................................................................230
Qualitative Case Study
Setting
1. Methods Used
Textual Analysis
Discourse Analysis: Media and Literature
Questionnaire and Focus Group
Interviews with Policy-Makers
Interviews with Policy Implementors
Interviews with NGO Leaders
Focus Groups
Interviews with Afghan Women and Men
Interviews with Specialists
Workshops and Presentations
• Ethnographie Field Notes and Reflexive Journal
2. Positionality and Challenges
• Situating Myselt
• Language
• Safety and Security
• Human Subjects Protocol
3. Table of Methods
2. Mini Case Study: Advancing the ‘Gender Agenda' Through the Parliamentary
Elections................................................................................................................................258
• An Insider’s View
• Intimidation of Female Candidates
• Afghan Perspectives
• Post-Elections
3. Profiles of Couples ......................................................................................................274
4. Maida. Maida: Women’s Life Stories .......................................................................278
5. Women’s Life Histories................................................................................................286
6. Closing the Feedback Loop.....................................................................................290
• Afghan Voices
• A Final ‘Gender’ Meeting
• Lessons Learned?
7. Publications and Presentations.................................................................................306
8. Dari Terminology.........................................................................................................309
9. Acronyms and Abbreviations....................................................................................311
Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------313
List of Tables
1. Social Indicators 9
2. Peacekeeper Support per Capita 24
3. Ranking Aid Documents 78
4. Ranking Gender Documents 79
5. Identity Ranking - Women 137
6. Identity Ranking - Men 137
7. Identity Ranking - Women and Men 142
8. Comparison Between Women and Men Across Three Themes 178
9. Comparison Across Groups and Themes 181
10. Demographic Data for Afghan Women 248
11. Demographic Data for Afghan Men 248
12. Table of Methods 257