UNIFEM researching gender gaps and division of labour

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has launched a research project to establish how vulnerable and disadvantaged women are in Afghanistan. The study is focusing on sexual division of labour to explore the dynamics of the country's diverse livelihood patterns and how they fit into the larger picture of reconstruction. "We are trying to situate the question of women's rights in studying the diverse livelihood context of Afghanistan," Deniz Kandiyoti, a British anthropologist initiating the research for UNIFEM, told IRIN from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday. "We are trying to combine the gender analysis with the livelihood analysis." The research was initiated with a pilot project in the northeastern province of Parvan in September 2002. On the basis of that study, research is being carried on gender and livelihood systems in the northeastern provinces of Laghman and Takhar and the western province of Herat. In addition to some studies of the ongoing women-targeted projects such as the World Food Programme's women's bakeries and CARE's humanitarian assistance to widows in Kabul, the research is expected to be complete next March. Kandiyoti said the study would also contribute to a more extensive livelihood study being carried by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit in seven provinces. "It will hopefully give us a more precise picture of how the domestic economy functions and how the 23 years of conflict have modified local economies and how women are coping," she said. The study is expected to help the UN, donors, the Afghan government and aid agencies gain ideas on ways of empowering women. "NGOs in the regions who have been involved in relief and rehabilitation work and who are hoping to move in a situation of peace to more sustainable development need to develop both ecologically and culturally appropriate projects," Kandiyoti observed. Referring to her findings to date, she maintained that although Afghanistan had a patriarchal social structure, whereby women were supposed to be protected in the domestic sphere, the war had changed that, and widows or other women were forced to head households. "This is a new and very deep form of poverty, and it is a very painful situation," she said. Meanwhile, in an attempt to improve facilities for women, the Rabia Balkhi Women's Hospital in Kabul reopened on Monday after the completion of a six-month renovation project supported by the US Health and Human Services (HSS) and Defense departments, according to an HHS press release. Restoring the damaged, ill-equipped facility is considered a significant step towards improving health care in the country, especially for women and children, many of whom currently die of preventable or treatable conditions.