An Evaluation of Gender Equality Policies: A Case Study of Afghanistan Civil Services

For decades Afghan women were deprived of a proper education and denied equal opportunity in the public sector. A Taliban policy designed to systemically discriminate against women has had a lasting negative impact on Afghan women and hindered their progress in increasing their roles in public sector employment. These limitations have existed for decades and have subjected women to widespread deprivations. The years of excluding women from public life, especially in education and in the workplace, limited the involvement of women in the public sphere and confined them to their homes. Even when women did become involved in public life and politics, their presence did not last for long, shattering all hopes of increasing women’s participation. Even though women’s rights improved considerably after the fall of the Taliban, to reach a state where women’s participation equals that of men will take years. The numbers of women are increased from day to day in the civil services of Afghanistan.