Leading the Way for Women in Afghanistan

June 12, 2007—On June 14, 1,000 prominent Afghani mothers will celebrate Mother’s Day in Kabul.

Dr. Massouda Jalal, a CEDPA alumna and the first woman to run for president of the country, wishes that women in Afghanistan had a better chance of surviving childbirth, raising healthy families and living to achieve their fullest potential.

Though the situation for Afghanistan’s women has improved since the fall of the Taliban, there is still a long road ahead.

Afghanistan has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. More than one mother out of every 20 will not survive pregnancy and childbirth. In fact, northeastern Afghanistan is the worst place in the world to be an expectant mother, because it has “the highest [maternal mortality] rate in the world,” Dr. Jalal says.

“The reasons behind this tragedy are a high fertility rate, health and nutritional problems, transportation problems due to bad roads or no roads, lack of access to health facilities and services, poverty, illiteracy, lack of awareness on maternity care, traditional beliefs, and lack of female medical staff,” explained Dr. Jalal.

The Jalal Foundation works against difficult odds to empower women in Afghanistan.

The constant struggle of women in Afghanistan prompted Dr. Jalal, a medical doctor by profession, to launch the Jalal Foundation, the first women-led initiative of its type in Afghanistan’s history.

The Jalal Foundation seeks to promote, empower, educate and inform Afghani women by building their capacity in human rights, gender issues and leadership. Foundation programs educate and train women, help develop life and professional skills to heal from post-war trauma, create a platform for women’s self-expression in the media, and promote peace and women's rights.

Dr. Jalal has been a long-time leader in women’s human rights and was most recently Afghanistan’s Minister of Women’s Affairs. She may be best known for her presidential bid, running against Hamid Karzai in the country's last two presidential elections. She is employing the skills she learned at CEDPA’s Institution Building Workshop in 2002 to build the Jalal Foundation.

Dr. Jalal and the directors of the Jalal Foundation will mark Mother’s Day in Afghanistan by increasing attention on the status of women in their country and the need to do more to make safe motherhood a reality.

The day’s events will include a June 14 conference that will bring 1,000 prominent Afghani mothers from around the country to Kabul. If the Foundation achieves the funding it needs, they hope to publish 10,000 copies of posters and brochures to reach more women with critical safe motherhood information, and provide clips for the media to run public announcements on that day.

The theme of the events will be the role of mothers in Afghanistan’s families and the communities. Women will be encouraged to raise their voices, take part in peace and reconstruction efforts, and raise awareness surrounding reproductive health and family planning.

To learn more about the Jalal Foundation and their Mother’s Day events you can e-mail Dr. Jalal at jalalfoundation@hotmail.com. Learn about how other CEDPA Alumni are improving lives around the world.

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