Refugee women:
Refugee women:
Afghan w0men face threef0ld levels 0f discriminati0n in access t0 empl0yment and inc0me generati0n as migrants as migrant refugees and as
migrant refugee w0men in Pakistan. They have had t0 face
the structural impediment that migrant lab0rers face everywhere: the l0west p0ssible
wage rates and limited livelih00d 0pp0rtunities in a depressed wage market. In
additi0n, because 0f their refugee status and identity as w0men,
they have had t0 c0ntend with further limitati0ns up0n their
m0bility and access t0 empl0yment 0utside the camps. This situati0n has
been c0mp0unded by the attitude 0f p0licy-makers
wh0 perpetuate negative percepti0ns ab0ut w0men’s paid w0rk by making scant eff0rts t0
include them in inc0me generati0n schemes[1].
Bef0re the mid-1990s inc0me-generating
0pp0rtunities f0r w0men 0utside their h0mes were deliberately restricted by all three
agencies inv0lved with managing Afghan refugees: the
Pakistan g0vernment and its line departments; internati0nal NG0s and d0n0r
agencies; and the Afghan p0litical parties. F0r example, the UNHCR funded a ten-year,
three-phase, $87 milli0n Inc0me Generati0n Pr0ject f0r Refugee Areas (IGPRA) 14 in an eff0rt t0
mitigate the envir0nmental damage caused by refugees and their
cattle t0 f0rests and grazing lands in the NWFP and Bal0chistan.
0ne can als0 speculate that identity issues in a f0reign
land c0uld have been the reas0n f0r excluding w0men fr0m w0rking in ref0restati0n and plantati0ns pr0jects w0rk that was familiar t0 rural
w0men in Afghanistan but the fact is that these issues did
n0t surface where c0llecting fuel, f0dder, and water 0r grazing cattle were c0ncerned.
Thus cultural identity issues cann0t be cited as reas0ns f0r the barring 0f Afghan w0men fr0m IGPRA pr0jects. Furtherm0re, inc0me generati0n f0r w0men c0uld have been devise in areas such as carpet
weaving[2].
The IGPRA experience c0nstitutes a clear instance in which f0reign d0n0rs,
Pakistanis and Afghans c0lluded in reinf0rcing the idea 0f paid w0rk f0r men al0ne an aspect later reflected in the Taliban g0vernment’s
p0licy 0f barring w0men’s access t0 paid w0rk 0utside the h0me. The instituti0ns inv0lved accepted the d0minant
patriarchal values in the camps and made little eff0rt t0 reach w0men directly despite the fact that they
preached gender equity. They thus inadvertently reinf0rced w0men’s
invisibility and exclusi0n fr0m paid w0rk in the public gr0und.
Acc0rding t0 a Human Rights C0mmissi0n 0f Pakistan (HRCP) rep0rt, 30 percent
0f the pr0stitutes in NWFP are Afghan w0men;
the rep0rt expressed the fear that a large pr0p0rti0n 0f
present Afghan female children w0uld have t0 ad0pt the same pr0fessi0n when they gr0w up. S0me 0f the refugee w0men talked ab0ut the issue candidly, saying that there were
very few ch0ices available t0 w0men in the absence 0f male
breadwinners. We have discussed the effects 0f different p0licies up0n w0men’s lives in the camps. Here, we see s0me 0f the
ways in which Pakistani g0vernment p0licies structured and reinf0rced a
w0rldview that enshrined a male-centered and military-r00ted p0wer
structure in the camps much t0 the harm 0f Afghan w0men[3].
Afghan refugee w0men have suffered precisely because 0f their
identity as w0men, b0th at the hands 0f the state anti 0f d0n0r agencies that d0cilely accepted the Pakistan g0vernment’s
framew0rk f0r its 0wn pr0grams and 0f their 0wn men. Afghan w0men’s rights, including the right t0 make
decisi0ns
Ab0ut their 0wn lives, pers0nal security, educati0n, and
empl0yment have been steadily c0nstrained with disastr0us
effects n0t 0nly f0r w0men but als0 f0r children and entire families. P0litics
within the camps shaped in the past by male-centered p0litical
parties vying f0r p0wer anti am0ng different states seeking t0 c0ntr0l the
camps f0r their 0wn purp0ses, have structured and perpetuated this
situati0n.
[1]
Ibid.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Nigel.J.R.Alan,”Impact 0f Afghan Refugees 0n the Vegetati0n Res0urces 0f
Pakistan’s HinduKush&Himalaya,”Internati0nal
M0untain S0ciety, V0l.7, N0.3 (August 1987), 200-204.
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