WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - TRIBAL LAW OF
PASHTUNWALI &
WOMEN'S LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY
Palwasha Kakar
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"Embedded in the legal history
of Afghanistan are the tribal codes of the Pashtun or Afghan tribes.....These
tribal law codes are called Pashtunwali, and they are widely practiced as a
component of customary law, especially in rural Pashtun majority areas.
Pashtuns make up the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.
The role of women in Pashtunwali is
little studied and even less understood. Much has been written about the
oppression of women in Afghanistan, and it is often attributed to Pashtun
tribal practices, such as male elders having say over marriages of young women;
high bride prices; honor killings of women.....Among the large Pashtun
landowner class and among the city-dwelling Pashtun's, the seclusion of women
is prevalent; and chaderi are worn when the woman leaves the confines of her
household compound.
Women are constrained by the
Pashtunwali code in so many ways that it is difficult to understand why they
participate in this system, or why, when women's rights reforms are discussed,
they resist them, even those associated with health care and education....
While much of the legal process of
customary law seems to be in the control of men, there are layers of
legislative authority in Afghan rural society that function within
specifically gendered networks and others that bridge those gender segregated
networks. This paper is an attempt to understand women's authority to legislate
and to enforce norms within Pashtunwali, while at the same time maintaining a
critical eye on issues of inequality and contention....
There are three levels of women's
leadership and legislative authority: the national level, the village level,
and the family level....
At the family level, which is one of
the extended family, women create social networks of hierarchy with a leader
who manages the household resources, delegates work, forms and strengthens
social networks, and gains credibility and social mobility through marriage
choices. She also resolves conflicts among women within the household....
There may be more than one female
household leader. If the female leaders work together compatibly, the houshold
will stay unified; otherwise the house must be partitioned...."
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