Women’s strength doubles in Nimroz public sector

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Women’s presence has increased in different social areas particularly in elections in southwestern Nimroz province.

Nimroz has 171,000 population and around 100,000 people including 30 percent of them women participated in the voter registration process for the upcoming Wolesi Jirga and district council elections.

According to the Independent Election Commission (IEC), more than 98,000 people including 30,000 women participated in the voter registration process.

The commission says three women are contesting the Wolesi Jirga elections and six women are standing in the district council elections from Nimroz.

Nimroz has two seats in the Wolesi Jirga and both are currently represented by women.

In the provincial council of Nimroz, three of the 12 seats have been occupied by women.

According to local sources, around 2,000 women have been working in different government organs mostly in education sectors and police forces.

Abdul Hamid Sharifi, provincial IEC chief, told Pajhwok Afghan News that more than 98,000 people (30,000 of them women) have registered as voters in Nimroz since the beginning of the voter registration process.

He said people’s participation in the national process in Nimroz has increased compared to the past as only 40,000 people had registered as voters in the last election.

He said the reason behind increased participation of women in the voter registration process was awareness about their rights and responsibilities.

Launching public awareness programs for encouraging women to participate in national processes has been very effective, he said.

Sharifi said Nimroz stood fifth in terms of public participation in the voter registration process on the national level.

Nafisa, a young girl who has newly registered as voter, said: “I could not participate in the past elections due to my age, but now I have reached the legal age to vote, I will proudly participate in the upcoming elections to show others that I can use my right.”

She said participation in elections was the right of every person regardless of their gender.

“We should encourage women to participate in and contest elections because this way they can resolve their problems themselves, it is also good for the country,” she said.

Mina Baloch, a resident of Zaranj city, the capital of Nimroz, said that she would participate in the upcoming elections to elect an honest person as their representative.

She said she had participated in the past elections and voted for the person who could better represent them.

A new report by the Nimroz Women’s Department shows that around 2,000 women are working in different government organs in the province.

The report shows the number of female government servants increased by 50 percent in the last two years.

Malalai Ahmadi, Nimroz Women’s Affairs Department head, said that the number of female workers in government organs doubled this year compared to the past and currently they played an active role in all social, political and academic areas.

She said 1,750 women worked in the education, around 150 women in the public health, 50 women in police, 19 women in labor and social affairs, eight women in Women Affairs Department.

Five women are working in the justice department, five in the revenue department, as many in the agriculture department, four women in the appellate court, four in the information and culture department, one woman in the economy department and one in the court of Nimroz.

Ahmadi said the shortage of personnel in government organs, remoteness of the province and poor activities of aid organizations had negatively impacted women’s participation.

She said the Women’s Affairs Department has repeatedly asked aid organizations to assist women in carpet weaving projects.

mds/ma

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