A 502-delegate loya jirga convened in Kabul, Afghanistan, on December 14, 2003, to consider the proposed Afghan Constitution. Originally planned to last ten days, the assembly did not endorse the charter until January 4, 2004. As has been generally the case with these assemblies, the endorsement came by way of consensus rather than a vote. Afghanistan's last constitution was drafted for the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in November 1987.
Malalai Joya is an activist, writer, and a former politician from Afghanistan. She served as a Parliamentarian in the National Assembly of Afghanistan from 2005 until early 2007, after being dismissed for publicly denouncing the presence of warlords and war criminals in the Afghan Parliament. She is an outspoken critic of the Karzai administration and its western supporters, particularly the United States.
Women's rights in Afghanistan have been varied throughout history. Women officially gained equality under the 1964 constitution. However these rights were taken away in the 1990s through different temporary rulers such as the mujahideen and the Taliban during civil war. Especially during the latter's rule, women had very little to no freedom, specifically in terms of civil liberties. Ever since the Taliban regime was removed in late 2001, women's rights have gradually improved under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and women are once again de jure equal to men under the 2004 constitution, which was largely based on that from 1964. Despite this, their rights are still complicated by a reactionary view on women by certain classes of society, particularly ruralites, which continue to cause international concern.
Malalai Shinwari is a member of the Wolesi Jirga for Kabul Province, Afghanistan. Shinwari was a journalist prior to running for office.
Malalai Kakar was the most high-profile policewoman in Afghanistan after the ousting of the Taliban in 2001.
Shukria Barakzai is an Afghan politician, journalist and a prominent Muslim feminist. She is the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway. She is a recipient of the International Editor of the Year Award.
Farida Nekzad is co-founder, managing editor and former deputy-director of Pajhwok Afghan News, Afghanistan's leading independent news agency, and former vice president of the South Asia Free Media Association for the South Asia Media Commission.
Raising My Voice is a 2009 book by Malalai Joya with Derrick O'Keefe about the life of Malalai Joya the 'Bravest woman in Afghanistan' and suspended Member of Afghan Parliament.
Malalai of MaiwandPashto pronunciation: [malɑˈləi], also known as Malala, or Malalai Anna is a national folk hero of Afghanistan who rallied local fighters against the British troops at the 1880 Battle of Maiwand. She fought alongside Ayub Khan and was responsible for the Afghan victory at the Battle of Maiwand on 27 July 1880, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. She is also known as "The Afghan Jeanne d'Arc" and as "The Afghan Molly Pitcher" to the Western world. There are many schools, hospitals, and other institutions named after her in Afghanistan. Her story is told in the Afghan school text books. The Pakistani women's-rights activist Malala Yousafzai and Afghan activist-politician Malalai Joya are named after Malalai of Maiwand.
Anja Niedringhaus was a German photojournalist who worked for the Associated Press (AP). She was the only woman on a team of 11 AP photographers that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography for coverage of the Iraq War. That same year she was awarded the International Women's Media Foundation's Courage in Journalism prize.
The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have shown leadership, courage, resourcefulness, and willingness to sacrifice for others, especially in promoting women's rights.
Jamila Mujahed is a journalist of Afghanistan.
Maryam Durani is an Afghan activist and women's advocate. In 2012 she received the International Women of Courage Award.
Suraya Pakzad is an Afghan women's rights activist. In 1998 she founded Voice of Women, which began by teaching girls reading and now provides women with shelter, counseling, and job training. The organization worked in secret until 2001 because of the Taliban. In fact, twice the girls being taught to read had to burn their books for fear of being caught. Voice of Women was named as an official NGO in 2001, and in 2002 it officially registered with the government of Afghanistan. It also helped develop the Afghan constitution.
Wazhma Frogh is an Afghan women's rights activist.
Shukria Asil is an Afghan women's rights activist. In 2009, she succeeded in reversing the firing of three women teachers in Baghlan, who had been fired due to negative information being published about them by the Ministry of Education. As of 2010 she serves as one of four female members of the Baghlan Provincial Council, and as of 2012 she is the head of the Baghlan Provincial Culture and Information Department.
Shafiqa Quraishi is an Afghan women's rights activist. As of 2010 she is a police colonel and the director of Gender, Human and Child Rights within the Ministry of the Interior of Afghanistan. She founded and led a working group on the Afghan National Gender Recruitment Strategy, with the goal of getting 5,000 women to work in the Ministry of the Interior and making the Ministry of the Interior better at serving the women of Afghanistan. She also worked for more benefits for working women such as child care, health care, maternity care, security and skills training. She managed to obtain promotions for women working in the Afghan National Police who had been unfairly passed over for years. As of 2011 she is Afghanistan's most senior policewoman.
Nasrin Oryakhil (1964) is an Afghani minister, gynecologist and obstetrician. She won awards for her work and in 2015 she was made a minister.
Niloofar Rahmani is the first female fixed-wing Air Force aviator in Afghanistan's history and the first female pilot in the Afghan Air Force since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Though her family received death threats, she persevered to complete her training and won the U.S. State Department's International Women of Courage Award in 2015.
Latifa Nabizada is an Afghan helicopter pilot in the Afghan Air Force. She is one of the first two women pilots to serve in Afghanistan that were qualified to fly a Mi-17 helicopter. By 2013, she was a colonel in the new Afghan Air Force. Nabizada's own career in the Afghan military has inspired other women to join.
