Masuma Esmati-Wardak was an
Afghan
Afghan may refer to:
*Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia
*Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity
** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...
writer and politician. She was jointly one of the first women to serve in the Afghan parliament and served as
Minister of Education.
In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958.
[Mattar, Philip (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 786. .]
In 1959, she and
Kubra Noorzai
Kubra Noorzai (1932–1986) was an Afghanistan, Afghan politician. She was the first woman to become a government minister in the country, serving as Ministry of Public Health (Afghanistan), Minister of Public Health between 1965 and 1969.
Biogr ...
became one of the first women to appear in public in Afghanistan without a veil after Queen
Humaira Begum
Humaira Begum ( fa, حميرا بیگم; 24 July 1918 – 26 June 2002) was the wife and first cousin of King Mohammed Zahir Shah and the last queen consort of Afghanistan.
Marriage
Humaira Begum was the daughter of ''Sardar'' Ahmad Shah Kha ...
had removed hers, supporting the call by the Prime minister
Mohammed Daoud Khan
Mohammed Daoud Khan ( ps, ), also romanized as Daud Khan or Dawood Khan (18 July 1909 – 28 April 1978), was an Afghan politician and general who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup ...
for women to voluntary remove their
veil
A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...
.
[Tamim Ansary (2012]
Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
/ref>
In 1964 King Mohammed Zahir Shah
Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...
appointed her to an advisory committee that reviewed the draft 1964 constitution, which granted women the right to vote and stand for election. In 1965
Events January–February
* January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years.
* January 20
** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...
she was elected to represent Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a List of cities in Afghanistan, city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population ...
in the House of the People of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights.[ She was the only one of the four women elected in 1965 to run for re-election in 1969, but lost her seat.][Louis Dupree (2014]
''Afghanistan''
Princeton University Press, p653
In 1987 she became President of the Afghan Women's Council.Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (Pashto/ prs, محمد نجیبالله احمدزی, ; 6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996), commonly known as Dr. Najib, was an Afghan politician who served as the General Secretary of the People's Democratic Par ...
.[Emadi, Hafizullah, Repression, resistance, and women in Afghanistan, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 2002]
References
1930 births
Living people
Afghan writers
Afghan feminists
Pashtun people
Members of the House of the People (Afghanistan)
Communist government ministers of Afghanistan
Women government ministers of Afghanistan
20th-century Afghan women politicians
20th-century Afghan politicians
{{Afghanistan-politician-stub