Afghan Women's Council

The Afghan Women's Council (AWC) (also known as the Women's Council) was an organization under the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1978-87) and the Republic of Afghanistan between (1987-1992). Until 1989 the leader of the organization was Masuma Esmati-Wardak, Wardak was not a member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) and in 1991 she became Minister of Education.^[1] The organization was run by Wardak and a staff of eight women. Some of these staff members were also members of the PDPA. When the communist regime in 1978 under Nur Muhammad Taraki the government gave equal rights to women. Women now had the ability to choose their husbands, education-- they had the ability to make decisions about their own lives.^[2] The membership of the AWC was around 150,000 around the country and had branches and bases in all Afghan provinces with the exception of Wardak and Katawaz. Most of the women in Kabul resisted the Mujahideen because of their retrogressive laws concerning women.^[1]

The AWC provided social services to women in Afghanistan, in the fight against illiteracy and vocational training for those in the Secretary, hairdressing and workshop fields. Many feared the sacrificing of the AWC in the national reconciliation talks which started in 1987.^[2]

One of the post important AWC programmes was their fight for the literacy and education of girls. According to AWC survey in 1991 estimated around 7 thousand women were in the institution of higher education and around 230,000 girls studying in schools around Afghanistan. According to the survey there existed around 190 female professors and 22,000 female teachers in the country.^[2]

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