Kabul University to Open First Gender Studies Program in Afghanistan

Kabul University to Open First Gender Studies Program in Afghanistan

Kabul University just launched its first Gender and Women’s studies graduate program, the first of its kind in all of Afghanistan. The two-year program is another important step for Afghan women in achieving equality and increasing opportunity.




According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the mission of this program is “to create a platform for training future advocates of gender equality; generate research on gender, violence against women and underprivileged groups; and raise awareness about men’s and women’s social responsibilities.” The M.A. program, which was designed with UNDP Afghanistan’s technical guidance and financial support from the Republic of South Korea, will also focus on decreasing Afghanistan’s reliance on foreign experts and help the continuing emergence of women as decision makers, leaders of civil society movements, journalists and entrepreneurs.

Twenty-eight students including 18 women and 10 men have enrolled in the first class. Afghan Higher Education Minister Farida Momand said in a statement, “We witness a historic moment at Kabul University as we open a gender and women’s studies program…this program will serve as a model that universities throughout the country can replicate in the future.”

Girls were banned from going to school during the Taliban regime. Today, according to USAID, 2.5 million girls are attending schools. The World Bank reported that as 120,000 girls have graduated from secondary school, 15,000 have enrolled in universities in 2013. Kabul University, which is a government-funded college, has more than 20,000 students from all over the country. Female students make up half of the student population of the Information Technology associates degree in Kabul Polytechnic and 30% of those enrolled at American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) are female students. Since 2011, AUAF has offered Afghanistan’s first western-style masters degree in of Business Administration.

According to the UN Women, demand for higher education continues to grow in Afghanistan, “every year, more than 100,000 secondary school graduates write the Kankor, the nationwide higher education entrance exam, but due to insufficient spaces and limited capacity, only about half of those students find a spot at the government universities and colleges.”

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2015/10/19/kabul-university-to-open-first-gender-studies-program-in-afghanistan/