WUNRN
CRITICAL CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES OF AGEING WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
By Dr. Massouda
Jalal
Founding Chairperson of Jalal
Foundation
and Former Minister of Women,
Afghanistan
INTRODUCTION
In some countries, power comes with age, but not in Afghanistan
where wholesale denial of rights and opportunities are imposed against women
throughout their life spectrum. With a society that supports gender-based
oppression and an economy that is held hostage by armed conflict, corruption,
weak human resources, and wayward politics, Afghanistan may be the worst place
in the world for women to grow old.
CONCERNS AND CHALLENGES
1)
Low life expectancy
In terms
of ageing, the primary concern and challenge faced by my country is the
inability of Afghan women to reach their full longevity potential. Only two years ago, Afghanistan was known as
a country where women never grow old – not because they remain young forever,
but because their average life expectancy was only 44 years. While women in
many countries are just beginning to peak in their career at this age, Afghan
women’s life is already over.
In the
2011 Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) survey, however, Afghan women’s life expectancy
was found to have risen to 61 years[1][1]. According to Public Health Minister
Suraiya Dalil, this may be attributed to “improvements
in health conditions, nutrition in childhood, positive changes in lifestyle,
better management of households, and reductions in the miseries of life”. It may also be attributed to some
improvements in reproductive health care, given that ailments related to
reproductive health is the major cause of female deaths in Afghanistan.
Although
the dramatic rise in female life expectancy is hailed as a very positive
development, the fact that Afghan women die much sooner compared to their
sisters in other parts of the world remains a major concern. The new life
expectancy figure for Afghan women is still around 29 years short of the life
expectancy of 89.68 years for women in Monaco, which is the highest female
longevity in the world as of 2012[2][2].
It is
also important to point out that while women in most countries outlive their
male counterparts, the reverse is true in Afghanistan. As of 2009[3][3], the population of Afghan women aged
60 and above is around 564,780 or 2.3 percent of the Afghan population. This is
lower by 217,356 than the population of males in the same age group; a
proof that despite the continuing armed
conflict which has been taking the lives of many men for years, women are still
dying in disproportionately higher number.
These being so, it is important to recognize that discourses on women’s
ageing need to pay attention to the extraordinary circumstances that prevent
them from reaching their full longevity potentials.
2)
Diminished value as human beings
The
experience of Afghanistan shows that once a society accepts that women are
generally dying after their child-bearing years, women’s importance is
consequently reduced to nothing more than a baby-maker. Then, their worth as
human beings - with rights, capacities, potentials and other needs across their
lifetime - are dramatically obliterated.
With a perspective like this, public policy and action tend to give
lopsided emphasis to women’s pregnancy and domestic roles - to the detriment of
their needs as senior citizens. This
explains why Afghanistan decision makers miss the agenda of social security
measures for ageing women; why no agency of the government is dedicated to the
care of the elderly; and why there is no implementing policy for the care and
protection of the old people of the country.
3)
Inadequate welfare support to ageing
women
In policy, the State explicitly commits to
assist in the care of needy elders. Article 53, Section 2 of the Afghan
Constitution provides that, “The State
guarantees the rights and privileges of
pensioners and disabled and handicapped individuals and as well renders
necessary assistance to needy elders, women with caretakers, and needy
orphans in accordance with the law.”
Yet, the
government does not allocate sufficient resources for the pension and care of
needy elders. This was acknowledged in paragraph 16 of the combined first and
second reports of the Afghanistan government on the implementation of the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) which states that, “The
government has granted the pensions and gives the needed financial support to
the elders, poor women…. However, due to shortage of financial resources, the
government is not able to provide sufficient social services.”[4][4] The neediest elders receive no more than the
equivalent of $5 dollars a month. And as long as millions of dollars are being
spent to fight a senseless battle with anti-government elements, our people
could never expect the government to consider social security of the elders as
a priority.
In this
scenario, the care for elders in Afghanistan continues to be in the hands of
families. Unfortunately, Afghan families are ruled by men. All women, including
the female elders, are expected to submit to the full authority of the family
head - or face the risk of verbal, economic, psychological, and physical
violence. Ageing women have limited
voice in the family. Their engagement outside of the home is restricted, and
they are denied of rights and opportunities for quality life that ageing women
enjoy in other societies. Their life is
characterized by confinement to household activities, bereft of social,
recreational and other stimulating activities – almost like being in a prison
with a death sentence.
In such a
context, it is important to consider that 36 percent of the country’s
population is living below the poverty line. This figure translates into 9
million Afghans being unable to meet their daily basic needs. Likewise, Afghanistan’s Gross National Income
and Gross Domestic Product are the lowest in the South Asian Region and its
latest value for ‘age dependency ratio’, or the ratio of dependents (people
younger than 15 or older than 64) per 100 working-age population in the
country, was estimated at 93.55 as of 2011[5][5]. This figure is still expected to
increase given the positive trends in people’s life expectancy. These being so,
it is clear that Afghan families may not have the resources necessary to
decently care for their elders. Within
extremely poor families, old women would increasingly be perceived as an
economic burden, especially when faced with expenses for health problems that
are normally associated with ageing.
4)
Absence of health services for female
elders
Ageing is
associated with degeneration of health and physical capacities. A UNAMA article
last year reported that “health workers
say that disabilities linked with old age, such as weak eye sight, slower
mental capabilities and memory loss, have grown”. Minister Suraiya Dalil
also stated in the same article that “over
65 percent of people above 50 years of age are suffering from eye problems
while about six percent reported abnormal behavior”. Although they are important, such
observations failed to recognize the reproductive health issues affecting
ageing women and the fact that in a country where people have been constantly exposed to extreme violence and
violence against women for years, such experience may have taken a serious toll
at their physical and emotional well-beings.
The
Ministry of health created a special department to develop an action plan to
combat diabetes, cancer and cardiac illnesses, which could also be beneficial
to ageing women. However, ageing women could only access them on limited basis
because shortage of public resources generally shrinks the outreach of such
services, leaving many remote areas deprived of health care. Furthermore, there are only a handful of
female health service providers in the country and Afghan society still frowns
upon treatment of female patients by male health professionals.
5)
Lack of studies/data on the ageing
population
Because
of the doubling of Afghan population in the past decade, the number of old
people is likely to grow sharply. It now comprises 6 percent of the population,
a 200 percent increase from the figure of the past ten years.
Despite
this reality, very little attention is being given to the issue of the ageing
population in the country. There are no
comprehensive studies about their situation that could inform policy/law
making, planning and programming. The
government’s preoccupation with the peace process leaves the concern of ageing
women invisible in government priorities. There are very scanty data about the
ageing population and there is hardly any effort to use them for policy or
program decision making.
Where
data on elders are available, the analysis of gender differences in their
health, security, physical, emotional and other needs are missing. As female elders do not have much
opportunity to raise their voice in public affairs, there is little attention
and interest on them as a subject of research.
The fact that all people are bound to become elders in the future may be
an opportunity to make ageing an agenda of youth, women, and other marginalized
groups. In an ideal situation, however,
elder women themselves will have to speak up and call attention to the State’s
neglect of their situation.
6)
Absence of activism for the ageing
women
Afghan
NGOs and international entities usually act as advocacy groups and providers of
missing interventions to the neglected sectors of the Afghan population.
However, nothing of this kind is present to address the plight of ageing women.
There are no entities promoting the organization of ageing people, coming up
with agenda for advocacy and action, or raising public consciousness on the
needs and issues affecting them. There is an Afghan Elderly Association that
was founded in Fremont, California on 8 January 1995 but little is known about
what it does for the ageing population inside Afghanistan. Media, which has always been active in
bringing information and knowledge to the public, are also silent about the
situation of ageing women. Male elders
who are involved in policy and decision making never bring up the issues and
needs of elders as it may not augur well with the image of continuing
competence that they try to maintain for themselves in public. All of these
reinforce the lack of attention to the ageing women of Afghanistan and
contributes to their invisibility in the realms of public policy and
action.
7)
Gender
biased attitudes of society toward ageing women
Respect
for elders is very much part of Afghan culture. However, the standard of
respect and behavior remarkably differs for old women and men. Men are revered and their ideas are sought in
important decision making processes at the national, community and family
levels. These include settling of disputes and resolution of economic,
political and security issues. ‘Shuras’ or councils of elders are traditionally
limited to men although the peace and reconstruction initiatives of the past 12
years had paved the way for the formation of all-female shuras or the
membership of women in traditionally male-only shuras.
The older a man becomes, the
greater is the value and status he gains in society. This is not the same for women. Right from birth, females are already
consigned to a subordinate status and the degree of subordination heightens, up
to the time that a daughter-in-law joins the household. The eldest woman
presides over the affairs of the younger women in the family, especially in
preserving the tradition of honor and morality, which in Afghan society, is
symbolized by women’s purity, subservience, self-sacrifice, modesty, and
obedience to traditions that are dictated by men. This power is gradually taken over by the
next-in-line as a woman gets to be too old to carry out such function. Because they are confined to the very limited
social circle of the family, their twilight years no longer give space for
further growth and productivity. Very old women, especially those who could no
longer take care of themselves, may increasingly be perceived as a burden to
some members of the family and to the household economy.
8) Greater
vulnerability to violence and disasters
In an “honor and shame” society like ours, little is known about
the extent of violence that elder women experience within the family. Disrespect for elders is a very shameful act,
both for the offender and the victim. It
is possible however, that emotional or verbal violence among ageing women is
rampant in the country.
More worrisome, however, is the fact that a country that is
constantly in conflict, like Afghanistan, may leave ageing women as among the
most likely casualties of armed fightings and bombings. The extent of this
problem may never be known as media and authorities do not disaggregate the
record of casualties by sex and age.
This is also true for victims of natural disasters such as floods and
earthquakes. Failing eyesight, poor
locomotive capacity, diminished mental alertness, and weakening of senses make
them vulnerable and unable to save or protect themselves when necessary.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Afghan women continue to have very low status in society and are
denied rights and opportunities for empowerment throughout their life
spectrum. Within such an oppressive
context which is aggravated by inept governance, lack of security, and massive
poverty, Afghanistan may be the worst place for a woman to spend her twilight
years.
There are interrelated concerns and challenges that are faced by
ageing women in the country, which are: (1) low life expectancy; (2) diminished
value as a human being; (3) inadequate welfare support; (4) absence of health
services; (5) lack of studies/data for policy and action; (6) absence of
activism for the population of ageing women; (7) gender biased attitudes of society
towards them; and (8) greater vulnerability to violence and disasters.
These are only a few of the many challenges that ageing women in
Afghanistan are experiencing and could not be taken as a substitute for a
comprehensive study on the subject. A
research on the situation of the ageing population in the country, with special
attention to the plight of ageing women, must be conducted within the immediate
future to create evidences that would support policy advocacy and programming
for them. It is still a long way to go,
but the first steps must begin now.
[1][1] http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan%E2%80%99s-rising-elderly-population-im...
[2][2] The World Factbook, 2012. 2. U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.
[3][3] CSO Statistics, 2009.
[4][4] Combined First and Second Report of the Government of Afghanistan on the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), 2011.
[5][5] World Bank staff estimates from various sources including census reports, the United Nations Population Division's World Population Prospects, national statistical offices, household surveys conducted by national agencies, and ICF International.