Democratic Women's Organisation Of Afghanistan
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Democratic Women's Organisation of Afghanistan (DOAW) (''Sazman-e Zanan-e Dimukratik-e Afghanistan'') was a women's organisation in Afghanistan, founded in 1965. It was a component of the
People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), known as the Homeland Party ( Dari: , ) from June 1990, was a Marxist–Leninist political party in Afghanistan established on 1 January 1965. Four members of the party won seats in the 1965 ...
(PDPA). It played a significant part in the history of the women's movement in Afghanistan, and replaced the
Women's Welfare Association {{Short description, Afghani women's organization Muassasa-i Khayriyya-i Zanan ('Women's Welfare Association', or WWA), also known as the 'Women's Society' and from 1975 called (Afghan) Women's Institute (WI), was a women's organization in Afghanist ...
as the dominant organization of the Afghan women's movement during the communist era of the 1970s and 1980s. During the Communist era, it was the spokes organ of the government's radical women's rights policy.


Foundation

The DOAW was founded in 1965 in Kabul by
Anahita Ratebzad Anahita Ratebzad (Persian/; November 1931 – 7 September 2014) was an Afghan socialist and Marxist-Leninist politician and a member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) (belonging to the Parcham faction) and vice-president of ...
, Soraya Parlika, Kobra Ali, Hamideh Sherzai, Momeneh Basir and Jamileh Keshtmand. Anahita Ratebzad served as the president of the organization in 1965–1986.


Prior to 1978

When the DOAW was founded, the
Women's Welfare Association {{Short description, Afghani women's organization Muassasa-i Khayriyya-i Zanan ('Women's Welfare Association', or WWA), also known as the 'Women's Society' and from 1975 called (Afghan) Women's Institute (WI), was a women's organization in Afghanist ...
was the biggest women's organization in Afghanistan, but the DOAW gradually came to replace it, and had a far more radical agenda. The DOAW organised women in support and defense of women's rights, which were incorporated in the constitution of 1964. They also organised demonstrations of women in support of women's rights, which were the first time this happened in Afghanistan. In 1968, when conservative members of parliament suggested that women should be banned from studying abroad, the DOAW organized a protest, pointing out that this was banned in the constitution. Their protest resulted in the suggested law being retracted by parliament. In 1970, several attacks occurred in Kabul, were fundamentalist mullahs condemned women walking in the streets unveiled and dressed in modern Western clothing, and unveiled women wearing shorts and mini skirts were attacked by men, some throwing acid at them. The DOAW organized a mass protest of 5000 women, demanding the investigation and arrest of those responsible, resulting in both arrests and investigation of the attacks.


Communist era

When the PDPA took power after the
Saur Revolution The Saur Revolution (; ), also known as the April Revolution or the April Coup, was a violent coup d'état and uprising staged on 27–28 April 1978 (, ) by the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which overthrew President of Afghan ...
of 1978, DOAW came to have an important role in the
Democratic Republic of Afghanistan The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, later known as the Republic of Afghanistan, was the Afghan state between History of Afghanistan (1978–1992), 1978 and 1992. It was bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, by Iran to the west, by the ...
(DRA). Anahita Ratbzad announced that the DOAW's primary goal was to fight against feudalism and Western imperialism in defense of the principles of the "Saur Revolution." Between 1979 and 1980 it was called People's Organization of Afghan Women (KOAW). It published its own monthly journal, ''Zanan-i-Afghanistan'' (Women of Afghanistan). It launched a literacy campaign to make education available to women of all ages and classes, rural as well as urban, and to inform them of the objectives of the Saur Revolution. In 1981 the DOAW had local offices in nineteen districts, seven municipal committees and 209 primary organizations, whose main function was to attract women to the party through the organization in support of revolution. During the Communist era, women's rights were supported by both the Afghan government as well as by the Soviets who supported them. In contrast to what had been the case during the monarchy, when women's rights had been restricted to urban elite women, the Communists attempted to extend women's rights to all classes of society, also to
rural women Rural women play a fundamental role in rural communities around the world providing care and being involved in number of economic pursuits such as subsistence farming, petty trading and off-farm work. In most parts of the world, rural women work v ...
and girls.Timothy Nunan:
Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan
'
The communist government's ideological enforcement of female emancipation in the rural areas took the form of enforced literacy campaigns for women and compulsory schooling for girls, which was heavily resisted in particularly the Pashtun tribal areas.
Diasporas and Diplomacy: Cosmopolitan Contact Zones at the BBC World Service
'
In rural Afghanistan, gender seclusion was a strong part of local culture. To attend school girls would have to leave home, and school was therefore seen as a deeply dishonorable thing. The policy of compulsory schooling for girls as well as boys was met with a strong backlash from the conservative rural population, and contributed to the resistance against the Soviets and the Communist regime by the
Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...
, the Islamic guerillas. The conservative rural population came to regard the urban population as degenerate partially because of the female emancipation, in which urban women mixed with men and participated in public life unveiled, and education for women, and by extension women's rights in general, came to be associated with Communism and atheism. During the Communist regime, thousands of urban women were recruited to the cadres and militias of the
PDPA PDPA can refer to: *People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan – a communist party * Personal Data Protection Act 2012 – a Singapore law governing the use and protection of personal data * Professional Dart Players Association – a trade associ ...
party and the Democratic Women's Organisation of Afghanistan, and trained in military combat against the
Mujahideen ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' (), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' (), an Arabic term that broadly refers to people who engage in ''jihad'' (), interpreted in a jurisprudence of Islam as the fight on behalf of God, religion or the commun ...
, the Islamic guerillas, and there was a concern among urban women that the reactionary fundamentalists would topple the Communist regime and the women's rights it protected.
Afghanistan under Soviet Domination, 1964–91
'


Dissolution

When Najibullah came to power in 1986, he eradicated the Marxist rhetoric of the DOAW in order to lessen conservative Islamic opposition to the PDPA regime and women's rights, and the organization's name was changed from ''Sazman-i-Democratic-i-Zanan-i-Afghanistan'' (Democratic Organization of Afghan Women) to ''Shura-i-Sarasari-Zanan-i-Afghanistan'' (All Afghanistan Women's Council). Ratebzad was replaced by Firuza Wardak as president of the organization. In 1990, Najibullah abolished the Democratic Women's Organisation of Afghanistan and replaced it with the
Afghan Women's Council The Afghan Women's Council (AWC) is a non-governmental, non-profit, and non-sectarian charitable organization that was established in 1986 with the primary objective of providing assistance to Afghan women and children. The organization's core missi ...
,Valentine Moghadam:
From Patriarchy to Empowerment: Women’s Participation, Movements, and Rights
'
which was a more apolitic organization.


References

{{DRA topics People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan Women's wings of political parties Women's rights in Afghanistan Women's organisations based in Afghanistan Feminist organisations in Afghanistan 1965 in Afghanistan Organizations established in 1965