Why Women Are Missing: Women’s Leadership in Afghanistan’s Education Policy and Practice

The constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan proclaims the principle of equity for women as full participants in the national government and the life of the nation. Currently, women leaders are still mostly missing. A critical mass needed to shape policy is not yet evident (Aikman & Unterhalter, 2005). The recent Ministry of Education National Interim Plan (2011:56) states: The… goal is to eliminate discrimination against women, develop their human capital, and ensure their leadership in order to guarantee their full and equal participation in all aspects of life. In support of this objective, the MoE, by 2014, aims to (a) close the gender gap in education, (b) provide and enforce universal access to primary education for girls, (c) increase the number of female teachers by 50 percent to reflect the social demographic by gender, (d) increase female enrollment to 60 percent, (e) have facilities for girls’ education in 75 percent of schools, (f) significantly reduce gender disparities by province, and (g) achieve significant improvement in female literacy from 15 percent in 1389 (2010) to 43 percent in 1393 (2014).