Women Participation in School Management Shuras

Islamic Republic of AfghanistanMinistry of Education

Education Quality Improvement Program

Women’s Participation in School ManagementShuras: - Obstacles and Opportunities forWomen’s Involvement in Government Schools

in Kabul City: Pilot Study Report

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report would not have been possible without thegenerous contributions of many Units and individualswithin MoE, including Directorate of Social Mobilization,School Shuras and schools administration staff. The EQUIPGender Team is thankful for their commitment, support andcooperation in terms of facilitating the visits and shurameetings of researchers to different schools .

The team has consulted thepilot study report with morethan 300 individuals both women and men in Kabul City toseek their input through in-depth interviews, focus groupdiscussions and participatory observation. In addition,

EQUIP Gender unit would like to thanks to World Bank andMinistry of Education of Afghanistan for giving thepermission to use all required resources and necessarymaterials to complete this study.

Gender unit also would like to express their specialgratitude to EQUIP acting Director Dr. Amir Muhammad forhis kind cooperation, motivation and supervision to theteam which really encouraged the team to complete thestudy. He had provided all resources includingtransportation to field visits.

Special thanks go to EQUIP Gender team Mrs. SaforaBarkzai, Mr. Naeem Sabawon and Shafiqullah Kamawi - whohave designed, implemented and drafted the report of thestudy in excellent manner.

Tables of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..............................................2Tables of Contents...........................................3ABSTRACT:....................................................6ABBREVIATIONS:...............................................7INTRODUCTION AND STUDY BACKGROUND............................8WOMEN’S GENDER ROLES IN AFGHANISTAN...........................12ISLAMIC TEACHING ON WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SHURAS.............13MDGS AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT...................................13

STUDY FINDINGS..............................................15THEME 1: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SHURAS.......15Male Shura Members’ Misconceptions about Female Participation............................................15Religious Beliefs around Females’ Participation in the Public Sphere............................................18

THEME 2: WOMEN’S INFLUENCE ON DECISION-MAKING WITHIN SHURAS......19THEME 3: WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT.............20Women’s Contribution to School Development as Shura members.........................................................21Women as Members of Shura Subcommittees..................21

THEME 4: ENCOURAGING INCREASED WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SHURAS. . .22Mixed Attitudes toward Encouraging Female Participation in Shuras...................................................22Study Participant Recommendations........................23

CONCLUSION..................................................25IS SCHOOL SHURA REQUIRED?....................................25WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SHURAS...............25WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS..............27WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT......................28ENCOURAGING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL SHURAS...............28CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RESEARCH.................................29AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH....................................30

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................31SAMPLING....................................................31DATA COLLECTION METHODS......................................31DATA ANALYSIS...............................................33ETHICS.....................................................33RESEARCH QUESTIONS...........................................34LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH...................................34

REFERENCES..................................................35ANNEX A: SHURA STRUCTURED OBSERVATION TOOL..................38ANNEX B: SHURA STRUCTURED OBSERVATION DATA..................39ANNEX C: SHURA FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS.............40ANNEX D: CODING SCHEME......................................42

“Read in the name of your Lord who created”“Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood”

“Read, and your Lord is the most Generous”“Who taught by the pen”

“Taught man that which he knew not.”(Holy Qur’an 96:1-5)

It was narrated from Jabir Radi Allahu anhu that: the Messenger of Allah said: “Ask Allah for beneficial

knowledge and seek refuge with Allah from knowledge that is ofno benefit.” (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 9, Book 88, Hadith Number

241)

Education makes a people easy to lead, but difficult to drive:easy to govern, but impossible to enslave by Peter Brougham

Public school is a place of detention for children placed inthe care of teachers who are afraid of the principal,

principals who are afraid of the school board, school boardswho are afraid of the parents, parents who are afraid of thechildren and children who are afraid of nobody by unknown

The best teacher is the one who suggests rather thandogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach

himself by Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) Britishpolitician, poet and critic

ABSTRACT:

Exponential gains in school enrolment in Afghanistansince 2001 have resulted not only from the efforts of theMinistry of Education, but also from the efforts ofcommunities. Community participation in education inAfghanistan is formalized through school managementshuras (SMS), parent-teacher councils that have beenestablished and/or strengthened by the MoE through theEducation Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP). This pilot research aimed to determine the level ofparticipation and decision making of women in schoolshuras.

Empirical research was conducted as a pilot at 18 schoolsin Kabul City (one of the largest urban centers inAfghanistan), in conjunction with the management councilsin each school community. Through structured observationsand focus group discussions, the research found thatwomen’s participation in school management shuras is morelimited than men’s participation and almost negligible inthe boys’ schools sampled. This suggests that women’svoices are not much heard concerning the education oftheir children. The phenomenon may be attributed toprevailing cultural and traditional norms in patriarchalAfghan society, in which men have an upper hand overwomen in the decisions about schooling, among others.

The major recommendation to the Ministry of Educationbased on this pilot research is that any attempts toincrease women’s participation in school management shurashould take into account the existing social framework ofAfghan religious and cultural norms. For example, female-only shuras may be elected for girls’ schools, withmeetings held in a private home rather than the verypublic school setting. However, this assumption will befurther tested in the second phase of the study in fourmore major urban centers (Nangarhar, Kandahar, Herat andBalkh) and would be tested in all provinces in its thirdphase to both rural and urban centers in all provinces.

The provinces will be selected through multi-stageclustering sampling strategy in its third phase.

ABBREVIATIONS:

EQUIP Education Quality Improvement Program MDG Millennium Development GoalMoE Ministry of EducationNESP National Education Strategic PlanNORAD Norwegian Agency for Development CooperationSMC School Management CommitteeSMS School Management Shura

INTRODUCTION AND STUDY BACKGROUND

Since “back to schools campaign” in 2001, education enrolmentin the country has increased exponentially. Only onemillion children were enrolled in school in 2001, andthese were mostly boys; there are now over 8.4 millionchildren and adolescents benefitting from education inmore than 16,000 schools and 39 % of these are girls(Ministry of Education, 2014). These gains in educationalaccess may partially be credited to the work of theMinistry of Education (MoE). However, grassroots-leveldemands for education and community efforts to provideeducation for their children have also contributed to thegrowth of educational access (Strand & Oleson, 2005). TheAfghan Minister of Education, writes, “The people’s role in thedevelopment and provision of education through sending their children toand establishment of schools has been beyond expectations” (Ministryof Education, 2014, p.6).

The importance of community ownership of education –through community participation and contribution to, andmonitoring of education – is reflected in the 1387Afghanistan Education Law (MoE, 2008) as well as in MoENational Education Strategic Plans (NESPs). Governmentand non-governmental education service providers inAfghanistan have employed various approaches to promotecommunity ownership of formal schooling, includingawareness-raising of the importance of education andcreation of local education management structures, i.e.,shuras. School shuras may be understood as "councils"responsible for management of Afghan Government schools(Karlsson & Mansory, 2007); they are also often referredto as "school management committees" or "school managementshuras".

The World Bank has supported the development and reformof Afghanistan's education sector through two phases ofthe Education Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP I & II)since 2004. EQUIP interventions are aimed at increasingequitable access to quality basic education for all

children in Afghanistan, especially for girls.Establishing and strengthening school shuras arefundamental EQUIP activities, designed to reduce the gapbetween the school and the Government as well as tomanage the day-to-day operations of education at thelocal level.

Though, the participation of women in political spaces islimited in Afghanistan. Karlsson and Mansory (2007) writethat the traditional role of women in the country is oneof seclusion shaped by religion, culture, and politics.“Women and men gather separately” and “women’sparticipation in social affairs” outside of the familycircle and women’s access to information is restricted(ibid.). Similarly, Little is currently known about thequality of women's participation in school shuras,although subjective evidence suggests that male shuramembers retain control over decision-making processes.Yet, this may not be the case for all shura activities:there may be shura responsibilities that are moreattractive to women and/or less attractive to male shuramembers. Moreover, there may be indirect benefits towomen and their communities from female shuraparticipation – such as skills acquisition and/orempowerment – that are separate from the value of women'scontribution to shura processes.

This study explores female participation on decision-making in school management shuras in 18 Governmentschools in Kabul City as a pilot study.

Sullivan-Owomoyela and Brannelly (2009) noted that schoolshuras in Afghanistan “are primarily made up of men” (p. 59).School shuras consist of 15 member groups which include30% female (Ministry of Education, 2011). Womenparticipation was termed to be mandatory because womenare powerful catalysts for change (ibid.). The challengeis to assure that energetic, committed leaders have thepractical skills to mobilize communities around localissues affecting women, the ability to leverageorganizational resources and the will to increase civicparticipation in decision making. And this demand would

have been in equal coincidence with the EQUIP projectobjectives as “to increase equitable access to quality basic educationespecially for girls through school grants, teacher training and strengthenedinstitutional capacity with support from communities and private providers”(ibid. p. 9).

Male prominence in shura membership still holds true fiveyears later. “Local traditional practices for resolving disputes through“jirgas” and “shuras” are male dominated and rooted in conservativepatriarchal ideologies” (NORAD, 2011, p. 18). Even EQUIP SMSstandards take into account male dominance in thisrespect and call for a minority of women members: i.e., aminimum of 30 % female participation in the shuras(Ministry of Education, 2011).

Importantly, there is evidence to suggest that women haveonly been included in shuras “to accommodate donorrequirements”; and that female membership does not reflectwomen's “actual participation in joint decision making” (Kandiyoti,2007, p. 189).

A later research mapping conducted in Afghanistan reportsthat there exists “a broad recognition that numbers and quotas donot necessarily represent decisive social change, so there is a need to gobeyond the numbers of women present in various institutions” (Fishsteinet al., 2012: 59).

Box 1: What is Shura?

“Shura” is an Islamic term that refers to the rule of opinion of the majority; the word comes fromthe Holy Quran and is reflected in Shari’a law (Osman, 2001). “Shura means a serious and effectiveparticipation in making a decision” (ibid., p.10).

School Management Shura (SMS) The main objective of School Management shuras is to provide management and supervision support tothe Public Schools supported by the Ministry of Education (MoE) for ensuring the communityownership for the future of their children. This will create an enabling environment for childrento get equal opportunity of quality education in the schools with greater care from the community.School Management Shura is a council for each school which aims at increasing quality and “changecommunity attitudes towards girls’ education so that support for girls’ schooling becomes the norm rather than the exception”(Solotaroffi, Hashimi & Olesen, 2010) The SMS meetings are held on monthly basis and each shura have a 15 member group including 30%female (Ministry of Education, 2011) SMS has a structure and its composition includes membership ofthe school principals, religious leaders, parents (mothers and fathers), village elders, communityvolunteers, members from Community Development Committee, and a teacher and students’representatives. School Management Shuras are established, trained, monitored and supported toencourage partnership between schools and community in school affairs for better educationalexperience of children. Their primary responsibility is to keep the school running, providing thequality education to the community and to get involved all the sections of the community in theschool education quality management.

Every shura in principle has an executive committee and two subcommittees: the finance committeeand the procurement committee. All shura members are divided into these three subcommittees.

Here it is important to mention that ‘a school administered by the local communities’ is a conceptsupported by the donors and widely by the World Bank in different parts of the world includingsouth Asia. Through this concept, local communities are capacitated to take ownership of schoolsand defend them in the times of insecurity and conflict. One of the important steps in this regardis to establish school committees with different names in different context (countries) but withthe same mandate and policy all over the world. Empowerment of local communities in schoolmanagement has received growing attention from both academics and practitioners in developingcountries as part of a broad and global program to improve service delivery to the poor, byinvolving them directly in the delivery process (World Bank, 2004).

In Afghanistan, “schools are responsible for actual delivery of education with close involvement ofSchool Shuras” (Ministry of Education, 2010, p. 98). The list of shura responsibilities is broad:“involving the wider school community in assessing the school environment, prioritizing school needs, preparing and implementing”school improvement plans and other proposals, allocating funds, procuring goods and services,monitoring and evaluation, as well as “communicating school needs and achievements to community and institutionalstakeholders, among other roles” (EQUIP, 2014a, p. 8).

School shuras are expected to help the MoE in overcoming some of the barriers to educational accessin Afghanistan at the local level in one way or in decentralizing the education in a much betterway on the other, such as the poor quality of education, harassment of children on the way toschool, and cultural resistance in certain areas of the country to girls’ education (Ministry of

Education, 2014). “The main objective of the SMS is to provide management and supervision support to the schools forensuring the community ownership for the future of their children” (Ministry of Education, 2011, p.16). Theassumption is that “genuine community engagement will ensure solutions are appropriate to address local need and thatcommunities have a vested interest in their success” (CAMFED, 2012, Table 3).

In Afghanistan, school shura heads are almost always the headmasters or principals of schools,which effectively removes the oversight role entirely. The vitality to support local ownershipcomes through two major activities in Afghanistan, one is to build their capacities on the pre-determined terms of references’ secondly a school grant is provided to the school shuras to improvetheir schools’ conditions. Yamada (2014) questions the assumed benefits of SMCs – “decentralization,community participation, improvement of school administration, educational quality and learners’ outcomes” (p. 163) –claiming that impact studies of SMCs have had mixed results. CAMFED (2012) reports that there isno concrete evidence that community participation alone can be effective in improving education atthe local level.

WOMEN’S GENDER ROLES IN AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan is a patriarchal society (Moghadam, 1992;Zulfacar, 2006; NORAD, 2011). Moghadam (1992) definespatriarchy as a “kinship-ordered social structure withstrictly defined sex roles in which women aresubordinated to men” (p. 35). Although Kandiyoti (2007)does not consider the categorization of Afghan culturalpractices useful to the understanding of gender politicsand gender relations in the country, it is neverthelessgenerally agreed that men dominate in Afghan publicspheres. “The notions of separation between men and women andrestrictions on women’s mobility are prevalent in nearly all groups, as is theconcept of family honor, which rests with men’s ability to control women’spurity and behavior” (NORAD, 2011, p. 14). Yet again women aremuch prominent in agriculture fields and constructions inthe villages alongside their men than in cities.

Gender roles within a society are much determined throughgames and play, the textbook messages and pictures inschools being the major source (Karlsson & Mansory,2007). In reality gender differences are noted in allreligions and societies around the world. History isevidenced with the gender roles men and women had indifferent societies. Men are always given a superiorposition to women and that all the hard, tough andrewarding activities were related to men. Even intoday’s modernized world, there are limits to what womencan pursue as a career and what not.

However, women’s public roles in Afghanistan have notremained static over the past century. “In the 1920s womenappeared in French style attire on the streets. In the 1930s, women wereprohibited to appear unveiled. In the 1950s, to appear unveiled became achoice and education was co-ed. In the 1960s and 1970s, some womenworked with men, drove cars and sported miniskirts. In the 1980s, somewomen danced in clubs, some worked in factories and the dowry wasoutlawed. In the 1990s, women were forced to take refuge in the veil fromrival ethnic attacks”. (Zulfacar, 2006, p. 27), his assessment of genderroles in Afghanistan cited above is rather simplistic.

Despite gains in attention to gender – evidenced by theestablishment of a Ministry of Women’s Affairs – women inAfghanistan have historically been (and during thepresent period of post-conflict transformation continueto be) far less visible than men: “The male-dominant Afghanculture is a major challenge to women’s participation in all areas of political,economic and social life. In particular in rural areas, culture and traditionspeak louder than national laws and policies that grant women equal rightswith men”. (Lexow, 2012, p. 2)

Yet, other authors (e.g. Karlsson & Mansory, 2007)observed the same political changes that resulted inmassive increases in girls’ enrolment since 2001 havealso resulted in less rigid gender roles in present-dayAfghan society. Nevertheless, concerning education“although decision-making power may primarily be possessed by the malehead-of-household […] women are also active participants in the decision-making process and, in some cases, wield considerable power themselves”(Hunte, 2006, p. 3). This role of women is almost gettingprominence at homes with educated mothers, on the part oftheir children education specifically.

An enabling environment is importantly vital for women toproceed further in societal development works and to getpromoted. Based on the fact that women make more thanhalf of every society’s population, it would rather beimpossible to think of development without them. Thisfact can further be supported in the societies likeAfghanistan that women are provided with theopportunities that coordinate with the prevailing normsand culture, agreed and supported by men too. “Developmentcan only have a beneficial outcome for women when the working culture,structure, systems and procedures, and underlying values of the institutionwhich shape womens’ lives themselves reflect a concern for gender equity”.(Fenella, et al, 1999)

ISLAMIC TEACHING ON WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SHURAS

Islam has a clear role defined for men and women. Therehave been a number of Quranic verses on the roles, rightsand relations including two chapters by the name ofwomen. There is a number of Hadiths about gender relations

too. This has had a strong influence on how gender rolesand gender relations have developed in Muslim countries(Karlsson & Mansory, 2007).

Being an Islamic Republic, Afghanistan has formulatedpolicies that are informed by Islamic values andintegrated in to the Afghan tradition and culture. In thereligion of Islam, the general consensus of the majorityof Muslim scholars and jurisprudents is that women havethe right of giving advice and recommendations and cancontribute to the Consultation Board.

It is the opinion of renowned Islamic Scholar Imam AbuHanifa (see Al-Asbahani, n.d.); that women can take partin all consultation gatherings except Qisas (execution ofmurderers) and Islamic ordinances; however, Imam IbniJarih opines that a woman can be a judge in all affairs,including Qisas and Ordinance. Four Imaman (well-knownscholars and leaders in Muslim Ummah, or brotherhood)attest that women can also make judgments in social andother affairs (see e.g. Al-Tabari, 1997): even the 10th-century Imam Ibn Hazm listed the names of 20 women whocould give suggestions and recommendations during Suhaba(may Allah be pleased with them), i.e., companions of theProphet (peace be upon Him) for consultation. Since womenmay be appointed as judges (Badlishah & Masidi, 2009),they may also serve as members of shuras, whether large(such as Parliament) or small (such as a village orschool council).

MDGS AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Goal 3 of the global Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)concerns gender equality and women’s empowerment (UnitedNations, 2000). This MDG is important both in terms ofgender parity in access to educational opportunities aswell as in terms of women’s participation in politicalprocesses. An assumption in this research is that women’sparticipation in school management shura is essential toboth educational developments, especially for girls’education, and to women’s own self-worth.

Empowerment can be understood in terms of inequality ofpower. Empowerment can begin to be understood byexamining the concept of power and powerlessness(Moscovitch & Drover, 1981). Power may be defined as theability to achieve goals, as dominance in a relationship,as control over resources or one’s own environment, or asknowledge (Rogers, 1974). At the individual levelpowerlessness can be seen as the expectation of theperson that his/her own actions will be ineffective ininfluencing the outcome of life events (Kieffer, 1984).Some individuals or groups always have greater power thanothers, and those who have the capacity to influencebased on any of these factors can be viewed as“empowered”. Other theorists view power as the ability toinfluence social structures. Whitmore defines empowermentas “An interactive process through which people experience personal andsocial change, enabling them to take action to achieve influence over theorganizations and institutions which affect their lives and the communities inwhich they live (cited in Lord & Hutchinson”, 1993, p. 6)

For the purposes of this pilot research, empowerment isdefined as the ability to assert one’s views andinfluence change within the social institution of theshura, which can be seen as a forum for democraticparticipation. And to see how women take positive benefitof their participation within shura, whether they feelempowered within the men majority circles, whether theirvoices are heard or if the women are participatory in thesocial circles in their community level. Women’sempowerment is of particular interest to this researchsince “gender constructs that impede women’s access to the public spheresof society diminish the possibility for equitable and empowering lifeconditions” (Vissandjee et al., 2005, p. 123).

STUDY FINDINGS

Overall, the study found that in the 18 school shurassampled – men contributed to discussions to a far greaterextent than women did. Importantly, the structuredobservations revealed that the patterns of school shuraparticipation by gender depended on the type of school towhich the school shuras were linked. In the boys’ schoolSMSs, 90 % of the discussion observed was dominated bymen. In the girls’ school SMSs, the discussion was evenlysplit among female and male speakers. In the mixed schoolSMSs, 79 % of the discussion was dominated by men. It isclear that men controlled the school shura meetings inschools where boys were enrolled. While In the 18 shcoolshura journals used as a secondary data source for thispilot study only one female contribution was chronicled:the example of the headmistress who secured second-handequipment for her school.

The section below present’s qualitative findings onwomen’s participation in school management shuras, onwomen’s influence on shura decision-making processes, onwomen’s contribution to school improvement and on studyparticipant recommendations on promoting women’sincreased participation in school management shura.

THEME 1: WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SHURAS

This theme divulges the pessimistic attitudes of male andeven female community members toward the participation offemales in the school shura. These beliefs largelyexplain the observed insignificant women’s participationin the public sphere as their traditional role is ashousewives/mothers/sisters.

Male Shura Members’ Misconceptions about Female Participation

Interviews with female shura members revealed that theybelieve male family members have many misconceptionsabout their and other women’s participation in the SMSs.A common belief is that a woman’s main responsibility isto give importance to the household, engaging in taskssuch as taking care of children, serving husband and in-laws. Akbar’s mother explained the community attitudewith the following words: “Our people in our area say a femaleshould be educated only to the limit of knowing how to pray and fast and therest she should be attentive to her home, cooking, washing, cleaning, etc.For the male it is important that females should be expert at home chores;they never encourage their females to participate in places like our schoolshura”. Housework was viewed by many study participants’families as far more important for women than anypossible activities outside the home. The male studyparticipants largely agreed that since school shuras werea responsibility outside the home – they were in a betterposition than women to address any issues faced by theschool.The female school teachers that served on the schoolshuras were, in a way, exempt from this criticism.Nafeesa stated that female teachers’ participation ispossible because they are already working in the school.Their husbands do not allow them to participate in anyactivity other than teaching inside schools, but theshura falls within the school-related activitiespermitted by their families.

In this context, female teachers can participate inschool shuras however; the increase of female teacherswould change the existing structure of the school shuras– women from community will be excluded.

The negating view of male family members toward women’sparticipation in the public sphere in order to voicetheir ideas and suggestions for the improvement of theschool’s environment to ensure a better future for theirchildren appears to be often linked with incidents ofinsecurity. Rahman implied that women not only cannot but

also do not need to voice their concerns in schoolshuras: "Our men have seen lots of hardships in this country. We arefamiliar with our country’s situation, it is not safe for our women to come outof their houses and participate in these places like SMSs. Our women knowthat we participate in these platforms and we communicate their concerns inthese shura meetings".

Recoomendation 1:

Looking at me, the male shura member Manan said, "You areour sister and a Muslim sister1, you know that these sort of decisions outsidehomes needs responsibility and such responsibilities can only be taken bymen, therefore we [men] are the ultimate decision makers with fullresponsibility of right and wrong with regard to any consequences happeningto the school. We can face the government, the municipality, the police andthe courts, how come you think women can face these things and it is notpossible for them [women]."

Moreover, women are seen as not well-suited to thedifficult tasks of the world of men, i.e., the publicsphere. One male study participant remarked, “Allah hascreated men to do tough work and face harsh challenges; females are weakand they cannot take those responsibilities”. Another reason thatshura members cited for poor female participation inshuras is that there are no women available toparticipate. Some men stated that their wives areilliterate, and this is why they cannot participate inthe school shura. Manan said, “We are facing challenges to findfemale teachers for our students to teach! How can we find females toparticipate in the SMS and then make decisions at the shura level?” Andthen Manan laughed.

This subcategory delves into some community attitudes andreactions that hinder women’s participation in the publicsphere. Manan seemed to be protecting his womenfolk inthe following statement: "shura from history has been conducted bymen; [men] make decisions and stand by their word. In case of wrongjudgment, [men] are ready to bear the consequences, too. Kindly do not bringour women in the front line to problems and hardships; they being thewomen in the house have enough to bear. We cannot burden them with extra

1 Speaking to a female researcher

tensions. Let it be with men and make usaccountable if any target is not met".

One example of the damage thatcan be done by communities ismanifested by the spreading ofrumours about women who attendshura meetings. Kamila a teacherand shura member from the 17th

education district, which is anurban area of Kabul city,disclosed that, “We are very muchafraid of people’s gossip after us, whileparticipating in the school shuras”.

Naseema, from another district, reported: “People in ourcommunity are mostly illiterate. They think of the women going out of theirhomes as disreputable women, therefore they start making stories after us.”Samina interrupted her, saying that the community thinks“that as shura members, we are trying to work with male strangers by thisway they try to spread bad rumours against us and they give us wrongnames”. Therefore, leaving the seclusion and protectionof the home in order to meet with men even for a cause asnoble as educational improvement is frowned upon in someof the communities in the sample.

Ahmed, a shura member, spoke of a girl relative: "There wasa girl [Runa], who was our relative. We all, including her father approved ofher education. Her brother from overseas called and said, “Let her [Runa] goto school.” Men and women in the area said “don’t let her go to school.” Thereis a lot of talk about girls.... Her brother who came from Iran says, “I wish wewere in the city, a better place, so my sisters could get an education. I don’twant to hear anything about my sisters. Our namoos [chastity, a word used torefer to one’s daughter or wife] are our major respect. God forbid, if they arelabelled! Then neither this shura nor school can bring them back good namesnor we can protect them further."

Samina’s daughter is in the third grade, studying in thesame school in which Samina teaches. She believes thatlack of community awareness of the benefits of educationis the reason for discouraging girls’ education as wellas the participation of women in the shura. Elaboratingon the case presented by Ahmed, she said, “It is the effect of

There isn’t anythreat from Taliban;it is our cultureand our mentalitythat is Taliban. Ourpeople [community]are worse thanTaliban. And most ofthe times it is ourown near relativeslike our Uncles areworse than theTaliban”.

people’s closed mindedness.... If [the girl’s brother] had a mind, he wouldhave said, “Whatever people say, I won’t take notice of it. Until I have seenmy sisters being corrupted, talking and flirting with boys, I won’t believe it.This is how the mentality of our men is, and we cannot help it.”

When asked if there is any threat from Taliban in thearea, or other security reasons that may be faced bywomen on the way to a shura meeting, Samina said, “Thereisn’t any threat from Taliban; it is our culture and our mentality that isTaliban. Our people [community] are worse than Taliban. And most of thetimes it is our own near relatives like our Uncles are worse than the Taliban”.

The majority of study participants had a comment on thissubject. They spoke about the fact that their communitiesand, in some cases – they themselves did not view girls’education or women’s participation in the schools asteachers or even as medical doctors to be beneficial. Itis important to point out that none of the male, studyparticipants were wholly against women’s participation inshuras, but they never supported their wives or otherfemale family members desire to participate. The onlysupport that was mentioned again and again was for theschool teachers, who are already out of their homes for areason and thus could be the ones to participate in theshuras.

Generally speaking, in a major urban centre (Kabul) –many educated men in the school shuras are stereotypesand consider women weaker than men in a context wherewomen are more visible and perform different types ofjobs within the government legitimize structure in Kabul.The perception of the rural men will be gloomier wherewomen perform all the household and agricultural fields’workd along the men and are still considered weak.

This study in its second phase will learn about theperception of the male school shura members in bothprovincial urban and rural centres to understand thechallenges faced by women to participate in schoolshuras.

Religious Beliefs around Females’ Participation in the Public Sphere

In Afghanistan, it is the general notion that culturaland traditional attributes are inspired by mis-interpretation of the Islamic religion practiced in thecountry. Women’s participation in an School ManagementShura is thus considered to be an extra burden on womenthat has not been mentioned in religious texts.

Framing his responses from an Islamic point of view,Abdul – a religious leader and member of the school shura– said:"Under the law of Islam, a woman, like a man, is a responsible andfree agent, fully entitled to all civil rights to be treated with dignity andrespect. When she is under-age, she is to be taken good care of and never tobe subjected to ill treatment on account of her sex. Her right to a goodeducation is established, like that of her brother. Taking good care of a girl isparticularly emphasized and promised great rewards."

Salima, an Islamic studies teacher and school shuramember, confirmed this, stating that: "In Islam a female’s legalindependent status is permanent. Married or single, she can enter intocontracts, conduct business, own property and dispose of her wealth at will.She is under the same moral and religious obligations [as men], is urged tocultivate her talents and utilize her potential in her best interest."

Study participants largely agreed that, under Islam, awoman could not be pressurized to participate in theschool shura against her free will. To make a wife/femalelegally responsible for her own maintenance would be anunfair burden on women, many of whom may not be able toafford their own keep.

Such a burden could also undermine her chances of happymarital success and respectful domestic harmony. To makea woman equally responsible for the cost of the householdwould very likely lead to harmful disputes, distrust, andmisunderstandings within the family.

A man, after all, is the head of the household and theearner for the family. He is responsible for all the out-of-the-house work, including participation in the schoolshura. This is because men are the earners of the familyand for that purpose they had to go out for work andother societal congregations, school shura participationcan be one of the areas, meant more for men than women.As mentioned in our holy book (Quran), and thetranslation is according to Assad (1938), “Men are theprotectors and maintainers of women, because Allaah has made one of themto excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from theirmeans”. [4:34] 

THEME 2: WOMEN’S INFLUENCE ON DECISION-MAKING WITHIN SHURAS

Women’s influence on decision-making refers to theprocess of active women’s participation in the schoolshura discussions. The observation made was meant only tosee if the women speak up during the school shurameetings or not. Secondly through the documentary records(school shura journals), it was also noticed that lesspercentage of women had any influence in the decisionmaking of the school shura on school improvement. Thedata was examined for any evidence that the school shurastried to accommodate participating women’s suggestions orcomments. The study found very few examples of women’sinfluence on school shura decisions. As argued, women inAfghan society have clearly defined roles and usually actaccordingly. Decision-making in a school shura with menpresent is thus very challenging for many women. In the 18 school shura journals used as a secondary datasource for this pilot study very few contributions ofwomen (in the girl’s schools only) were recorded. And onthe part of general decision trend, there were mostlymen. When asked in which type of decisions women shura membersusually take part, Karima a female high school teacher

and member of the shura, said:“Normally regarding the greenery in theschool, cleaning in the school, followingwith the students’ families; who arepermanent absentees, preparingstudents for exams, etc. … We areregular participants to the shura, welisten to the male members. Thedecisions they make are usually thesame that we want to make andtherefore we remain silent because weagree with [the male shura members]. …The male members do ask for ourconsent, we show our satisfaction intheir decisions and then the decision isfinalized”. Robina, a grade 12 femalestudent and a member of theSMS said, “We, being the students,are never consulted nor madeparticipant to decision making, and ourpresence in every school shurameeting is also not mandatory. It is onlywhen people from the Ministry arevisiting our schools, they call us to show that student participation is there, butthis is not the reality. If we are trusted, we can play a very vital role in thewelfare and progress of our school and school systems and can bring verygood discipline to our school”.

Yet, Abdul maintains that men respect the decisions ofwomen at home, so they do likewise in the school shura:“because we know that they are deciding and suggesting far better than usas they do in the homes, therefore while reaching to any decision, we ensureto take our sisters’ concerns and ideas into account”. Hamid, anothermember of the shura and a community leader said that“women in our shuras are heard, and their ideas and suggestions arerespected. Being members of a joint shura, we make sure that all are heardhere without distinction”.

Nasrin, female head teacher and member of the shura, saidthat “in our shura, we take suggestions from our male members, being

We, being thestudents, are neverconsulted nor madeparticipant todecision making, andour presence in everyschool shura meetingis also not mandatory.It is only when peoplefrom the Ministry arevisiting our schools,they call us to showthat studentparticipation isthere, but this is notthe reality. If we aretrusted, we can play avery vital role in thewelfare and progressof our school andschool systems and canbring very gooddiscipline to ourschool

people with greater experiences and skills, they guide us through many issuesfaced by our school and/or shura but the ultimate decisions are made by us[females], but in collaboration with male members [looking at the malemembers who were nodding, showing that they accept the statements madeby the head teacher]”.

Yet again from the structured observation onparticipation of women to speak within shuras, thepercentage varied a lot. In the boys’ school SMSs, 90 %of the discussion observed was dominated by men. In thegirls’ school SMSs, the discussion was evenly split amongfemale and male speakers. In the mixed school SMSs, 79 %of the discussion was dominated by men. And the majorparticipation of women on the topic was more in thegirl’s schools only, while in the male and mixed schools,female’s major participation were to nod what males wouldsay and decide.

THEME 3: WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

The contributions of female shura members can beclassified as contributions related to attractinginvestors/donors to defray school maintenance ordevelopment expenses or as contributions related to hardwork within schools, like keeping the discipline withinstudents, maintaining environmental safeguard andcleanliness etc. These contributions involve moral, inkind and/or financial contributions. Given that thenumber of female shura members identified through thestudy was very limited, the level of women’s contributionin some schools was quite remarkable.

Women’s Contribution to School Development as Shura members

Women’s contribution to school shura work andresponsibilities has mostly been in-kind, rather than incash. Women generally volunteer to conserve the schoolgreenery or to maintain cleanliness in the school. Yet,some cash contributions were reported by studyparticipants. One school, however, had a large number of

female shura members who pooled their money in order tobuy 35 pairs of shoes for students from poor families inthe school community. A group of female teachers who arealso members of their school’s shura contributed fromtheir own pockets or fundraised from among their friendsto buy seeds, pay the gardener’s salary, or financetrucks to remove accumulated garbage from the school. Oneof the headmistresses had walked into a donororganization’s office and lobbied for the donation ofsecond-hand equipment to her school.

As mentioned above, student safety is one of theresponsibilities of school shuras. With regard tospecial security measures for girls’ high schools, aheadmistress along with female teachers who are alsomembers of the school shura have taken turns to ensurethe safety of students at the end of the school day whenstudents walk home. They would stand in differentlocations starting from the door of school to two cornersof street where the school is located and would haveguarded students pass from these places to the main road.

One of the mothers, who were member of the school shuraalso, claimed that “her daughter shares with her the teachers’misbehaviour or students’ harassment problems that a student can notice butnot the administration”. The mother, who is a shura member,raises these issues during meetings. Many of thesesecond-hand concerns have been addressed. As a result,the mother reports being content with the current stateof the school environment, which is becoming more andmore secure for female students and for their ownchildren.

Women as Members of Shura Subcommittees

Every shura in principle has an executive committee andtwo subcommittees: the finance committee and theprocurement committee. All shura members are divided intothese three subcommittees.

Women’s contribution to these subcommittees wasnegligible. Only one shura in the 18 schools sampled had

subcommittees of finance and procurement led by women.Shura documents showed that this shura had been granted arecommendation letter for their transparent way ofworking and on-time liquidation of EQUIP grants.

Kamal, a prominent male community member and the electedhead of one of the shuras sampled, said: “We have our sistersin our shura, they are sharing their concerns, provide their suggestions andadvice wherever possible on certain decisions we make at shura level for thebetterment of the school. But they are not members of committee, as thismembership requires them to go out for quotations, buy things and discusswith people”.

Halima, a female teacher and member of the same shura,agreed with Kamal: “Our families [men] will not allow us to go out ofschool for any other purposes, if we tell them about membership of thesecommittees; our men will not permit us [to carry out] our sacred teachingprofession, either”.

Karima, another female teacher and shura member, spokeout against the abilities of her own sex: “We women do notpossess that much knowledge of buying and selling and collecting quotationsfor procuring objects for school; these are men-related expertise and they canhandle it in a much better way”.

Yet, two female shura members at a mixed school, Robinaand Akseer, declared proudly that they were women andthey had a facility for expenses nevertheless. “That is whywe have received the appreciation letter from the education directorate forour on-time liquidation of expenses and transparent expenditure of money”.

THEME 4: ENCOURAGING INCREASED WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SHURAS

Encouraging increased women participation refers to theideas and suggestions on sorting out the ways to the morefemale participation in the school management shuras.This section tries to explore views from the male andfemale participants on how to support and facilitate thewomen participation and recognize their contribution asbeing the responsible member of the community to theirchildren and to the school. “Encouraging” here would

only refer to the responses that the study participants’provide against the question asked from them. Which inreality seem adverse?

Mixed Attitudes toward Encouraging Female Participation in Shuras

The participation of members from different societalcategory like those of the influential and religiousleaders can play a vital role in awareness of thesociety. Female participation in the SMSs needs to bepromoted within the community through a series ofawareness campaigns and religious leaders can play thekey role – amongst others. Yet again there are varietiesof observations and responses with regard to womenparticipation by the male members’ like Abdul mentionedas: “In our country, we see successful women participating in the politics,they are doctors, they are taking care of the income of their families, likewisewe also approve of our sister’s participation in the school managementshuras, but how to encourage their participation is not something, we cansuggest. … Females can share their concerns regarding their children and theschools through their male partners and we can consider those concerns forschool improvement”.

As argued above by the study participant’s - women’sinvolvement with activities outside the home likeparticipation in the school shuras is not dictated inIslamic texts. Even one has mentioned that if female hasto suggest an improvement, they can do it through theirmale partners at home, for females it is not important tocome out of their houses and participate in the shurameetings. There was thus some reluctance on the part ofstudy participants to promote such an additional burdenon women to members of the shuras, a part from their verytough house routine works.

Study Participant Recommendations

Responding to the probable recommendations on how toincrease female participation in the school management

shura, study participants’ recommended several differentapproaches to increasing female participation in andcontribution to school management. Karima said: “In ourshura all the females that are participating are teachers in the school. I amsure there can be many other models like our school in the city where onlyfemale teachers are participating [as female members in shura]. I suggesthaving a combined forum under the guidance of the Ministry of Education,where once every two months or three months females from different schoolssit together and share their success stories and lessons learned”.

Karima proposed a multi-school shura meeting of women ina private home comprising teachers, the wives of maleshura members, and students. Another female shura memberechoed this approach: “There are many women who are illiterate butare very intelligent and if consulted for services to school improvement, thatcan become an asset for women. And, in order to include them, we need tohave separate shura meeting for women in a nearby home, where the [EQUIP]District Social Mobilizer can take note of our discussions and share it with themale members here in the SMS - because a woman can convey anotherwoman’s voice as accurately as possible”.

Karima also asked for shura training for women: “We haveheard that shuras are being trained but, being females, we cannot participateand learn. Ministry of Education initially should come to our places to train usand a number of other possible women from the community on the shura, itsfunctions and responsibilities, and let us know our role as shura members.Through such initiatives, women can come to know about the benefits ofparticipating in school management shuras and can sort out to raise theirvoice and benefit the school in one way or another”.

Abdul, a religious leader and a shura member, proposedthat: “There can be another idea to establish a female-only shura for allgirls’ schools and male-only shura for boys’ schools. And when it is mixed thenfemale teachers can participate to incorporate the female percentage of theschool in the shura”.

Hamid, a community leader and a shura member refuted thissuggestion by saying. “Whatever shura structures are in place, theycan work perfectly for all kinds of schools provided they are small, coherent,

but involving active members. Neither all male nor all female shuras canwork, there are activities that pertain to both gender to perform”.

There were good recommendations on viability ofenvironment which is more feasible for women toparticipate. But it is notable that a male studyparticipant suggests that both male and female can worktogether, stand alone, none of them can work, which ofcourse is an appraised statement (by a male member).

CONCLUSION

IS SCHOOL SHURA REQUIRED?

School Shuras were mainly an adaptation of the relatedmodel in the other parts of the region/globe wherecommunity’s ownership recommendation is made eitherthrough a project or demanded by a donor as done inAfghanistan. School shuras are something which has tocome clearly and strategically in the Ministry ofEducation’s policy papers, by this way they will have aformal recognition within the community through propercampaign and elections, and the real (wanted)participants can be targeted, who will have to play aprominent role with regard to school improvement.

The study’s targeted shuras were a total imposedmechanisms on schools and this can easily be generalisedto a maximum number of schools in the country, where theinterest of participants were noticed low. Therepresentation in shuras was made just for the sake ofrepresentation and without the required expertise forbeing a participant. The shuras are established either byelection or selection through a World bank funded projectto the Ministry of Education (MoE) by the name ofEducation Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP). ProvincialEducation Directorates (PEDs) and District EducationDirectorates (DEDs) has no responsibility to check ontheir quality assurance and service delivery at thedistrict and community level. Therefore whether toclarify the shura presence within the school wererequired or not, is much prominent from the participant’slack of participation and reluctance to service deliveryfor school improvement.

WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT SHURAS This pilot research is concerned with the extent offemale participation in 18 Kabul City school shuras.

Finding very limited women’s participation in schoolmanagement in boys’ and mixed schools in the Kabul Cityschools studies was anticipated, because women could havemore to say in the girl’s schools’ promotion andimprovement than boys or mixed schools. When sayingMixed, normally boys are more than girls that is whyshura structures also provide male more participation andmembership than women. The fact that the term “shura” isgenerally perceived as a male tradition, being a malecouncil, it is one of the established reason to hamperwomen participation.

The women shura representatives sampled werepredominantly female teachers or headmistresses, but theywere usually also mothers to students in the schoolswhere they teach and serve on shuras. Nevertheless, womenwere found to be underrepresented in the majority of theschool communities studied. Importantly, since Kabul Cityis a relatively liberal environment in Afghanistan,women’s participation in SMSs in more rural areas islikely far more limited. Thus women participation wassymbolic and not of the real housewives and illiteratebut responsible mothers of students, who would depict theproblems and challenges of schools as an outsider.

This pilot study also explored the reasons behind thelimited participation of women in the SMSs. Thephenomenon may almost certainly be attributed toprevailing cultural and traditional norms in patriarchalAfghan society, in which men have an upper hand overwomen in the decisions about schooling, among others. Itis unsurprising that these Afghan school communitiesreflect the dominant positions of men in society andtheir desired seclusion of women. As NORAD was quotedearlier that “local traditional practices for resolving disputes through“jirgas” and “shuras” are male dominated and rooted in conservativepatriarchal ideologies”, this study has to a large extentproved this statement correct, where men were observedmore vocal than women and even decisive without noticingthe concerns of fellow women in their shuras.Simultaneously, disapproving to a major extent, of womenparticipation in the male shuras.

Negative attitudes about women’s activities outside thehome as well as about women’s predisposition for shuramembership and shura participation seem to be the majorreason for the limited presence of women in schoolshuras. Due to such attitudes, families and communitymembers are reluctant to make efforts to help remove orreduce some of the barriers – such as street harassmentand lack of transportation to female participation in thepublic sphere, e.g. women’s participation in SMSs. Shurasin schools do not have long history, therefore they werenot the real reflection of community representationeither, whether they were male or female participants.

Acceptance of school ownership on the part of communityis very much important, once it takes place, than femaleparticipation, especially for girls schools indirectlywill be presumed to be encouraged on the part of male,with all its possible measurements to make participationon the part of female feasible.

However, school management shuras may constitute anessential forum for empowering Afghan women, i.e., anopportunity for women to assert their views and influencecommunity change that benefits their children.

As was assumed above that women’s participation in schoolmanagement is essential to both educational development,especially for girl’s education, and to women’s own self-worth, has been addressed with less but tangible proofs.Women’s participation in shuras is consistent with bothIslamic teachings and with the Afghan cultural beliefthat raising children is the mother’s domain.

Therefore, shuras may constitute an important entry pointfor increasing Afghan women’s democratic participation insocial and political affairs, as per MDG3. Besides thatwomen majority shuras (in girl’s schools) had majoraccomplishments for their schools both in moral as wellas in material terms. Provided women were less, yet againthe women had shown their expertise of fund raising,better school improvement plan and championed high grades

in graduate exams for their students to enteruniversities.

It is clear, however, that any attempts to increasewomen’s participation in school management should takeinto account the existing social framework of Afghanreligious and cultural norms, which is based on Islamicreligion - and Afghan society can never allow that levelof liberty for women, to make them able to participate inthe out – of – home activities like participation in theschool management shuras, with or without permission oftheir male partners.

Even when there were times that women had given thechoice of wearing western style of dresses, yet againthat was limited to city of Kabul only. Apart from thaton the behaviour change for men, their awareness needs tohave been increased enough to accept women’s’ presence inthe community platform like school shura meetings.

WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

Societal norms in Afghanistan prevent women fromsocializing with men to whom they are not related. Schoolshura participation of women in the sample was largelylimited to female education personnel and very few ofthem were mothers as outsiders (not teachers).

Male study participants claimed that they do consultwomen concerning school shura activities and that menrepresent the interests and concerns of their wives anddaughters who are not school shura members, which was avery positive gesture on the part of male shura member.

While throughout the study, mostly questions were askedby male researchers in all meetings and the femaleresearchers asked their questions through the help oftheir partners (male researchers) in men dominated schoolshura meetings - being the female researchers for this

study, was not able to put forward their questions tothese male members, they were very open and free to speakup their mind to the male researchers. Otherwise thesefrank facts would not have reached to analysis. And ithas helped the results of this study because the schoolshura members were quite open with male researchers whilediscussing the issues than female.

Female shura members reported that they usually agreewith the male members. Women in the findings hasexpressed directly and indirectly that they cannot makedecisions without the support of their male shurapartners. It is because they are only their symbolicallyand it is assumed that in majority of shura meetings,even the female shura members would be reluctant toparticipate because of the male members’ superiority andmajority in those shura meetings.

WOMEN’S CONTRIBUTION TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

The pilot study found that women who did participate inschool shuras were able to advance the educationalimprovement agendas through in-kind and cash donations,as well as through their volunteer work. Unfortunately,these contributions were undocumented. In the 18 shurajournals used as a secondary data source for this pilotstudy - only one female contribution was chronicled: theabovementioned example of the headmistress who securedsecond-hand equipment for her school. It should bementioned that female contributions were more to girls’schools, where they had their major participation in theshura and were in the decisive position at the same time.

ENCOURAGING WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SCHOOL SHURAS

SMSs are viewed by EQUIP and its donor as the bridgebetween schools and their surrounding communities

(Ministry of Education, 2011). Naturally, women are partof this community and should be heard. To be empowered torepresent oneself and speak one’s opinions (Zafarullah &Rahman, 2002) – the very essence of shura participationis an inalienable human right. As argued, women’sparticipation in shuras can be empowering for women, inthat women can feel more in control of their environmentand of the part of their culturally-conferred domain –i.e., child-rearing – that occurs outside the home. Afterall, women’s empowerment “is an essential preconditionfor the elimination of world poverty and the upholding ofhuman rights” (Department For International Development,2000, p. 8).

The recommendations for promoting increased women’sparticipation in SMSs offered by the study participantmay be among the most useful findings of the study forEQUIP and for the MoE as a whole. Pertaining to the 30%at minimum demand of donors for women to be members ofshura, can only be materialised if male members and thesurrounding community mentally accepts females’participation, and that can only be possible when takinginto account the recommendations provided through thefindings of this pilot study.

As, a first step in promoting women’s participation inthe public sphere, an inter-ministerial, well-planned,and long-term communication and awareness strategy isneeded to provide Afghan men and women information aboutthe roles and rights of each gender. Within this society,advocacy messages should be supported by Islamicquotations from religious scholars. And those Islamicquotations by the religious scholars should be properlydelivered to the public with its real meaning withoutfurther misconception. Such a campaign could bring manypositive changes to awareness of women rights and promotewomen’s participation in the different levels (local,

district, provincial, national) of the public sphere,including women’s contribution to school shuras. Learningabout their rights as women can in and of itself beempowering for mothers in school communities (see e.g.Meintjes, 1997).

The study participants request for training for women onthe purpose of school management shuras and the skill setrequired to perform shura duties are may be a good one.EQUIP should ensure that separate trainings are providedfor women, especially since the skills learned would betransferable to other democratic structures in whichwomen might participate.

The shura member comments concerning the problematicnature of women’s participation on the procurementsubcommittee is also valid. Women in Afghan societycannot visit male shopkeepers to collect bids or tendersfor construction-type shura activities. As studyparticipants made clear, it is already a great obstacleto convince women’s families that women should come toschools to participate in shura meetings; even mostfemale teachers do not have permission from theirhusbands to undertake such work. EQUIP may considerforming another, more woman-friendly subcommittee thatwould not necessitate visiting multiple locations.

Finally, the recommendation that girls’ and/or mixedschools have separate female shuras are may be a goodone, but so is study participant Hamid’s observation thatthere are activities that pertain to both genders. Womenare interested in the education of all their children –not just of their girls – while men should be involved inthe education of their daughters, as well. It can be awonderful idea to hold multi-school shura meetings forwomen in a private home, but such meetings should not be

limited to discussion of girls’ issues. Women may andshould contribute to the education of boys, as well.

In conclusion – as with all education-related programmingin Afghanistan – it is essential to raise awareness ofthe community benefits of educating all children, andgirls in particular. Like the religious leaders whoparticipated in this study pointed out, education is farz(i.e., obligatory) for all Muslims: boys, men, girls, andwomen. The school community is a fine place to beginpromotion of the right to be heard.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RESEARCH

This study will advise the work of the EQUIP SchoolManagement Shura Unit and/or the new planned directoratededicated to community participation and support.Understanding how women are positioned within and thelimitations of their contribution to school shuras willinform both future programming for women’s participationin education as well as temper donor expectations of whatis and is not possible in the Afghan context. The results of this research add to the literature onwomen’s participation in public spheres. It is hoped thatthis study may contribute to the understanding of thelimitations and benefits of women’s participation inother social processes and structures, in Afghanistan andin other male-dominant societies outside of the country.These may also include political bodies, such as villagedevelopment councils.

AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

As abovementioned, the findings of this study are limitedto the adult representatives of 18 school communities inKabul City. Further research on women’s shura

participation and contribution in more conservativeprovinces may yield different results. Results may varyby ethnic group and/or by security levels, among otherpopulation and location variables. The recommendationsfor increasing women’s participation in and contributionto school management presented in this study may need tobe contextualized for other areas of Afghanistan.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design: This pilot study described in thisreport was as a quantitative and qualitativeinvestigation that aimed to understand school shuramembers’ (male and female) perspectives and experienceswith regard to women’s participation in SMSs. Two typesof data collection methods were used in 18 schools inKabul City: structured observation (see Annexes A & B) andfocus group discussions (see Annex C).

SAMPLING

This pilot research used a non-probability, purposivesample of key school shuras. A non-probability sample isone in which participants are not selected at random; apurposive sample is one that relies one’s judgment toselect participants or locations (Robson, 2002).

In the research design, differences were assumed inwomen’s involvement in shuras among different types ofschools (i.e., boys’, girls’ and mixed schools). It wasalso assumed that little information could be obtainedfrom schools in which shuras are inactive. Therefore, theteam of researchers visited active shuras in a total of18 Government schools in Kabul. Prior consent of theshuras to participate in the research and the dates ofthe next scheduled shura meeting were key factors inschool selection.

A total of 18 SMSs were observed: 6 schools were in urbanareas while 12 were in more rural areas of Kabul City.Out of 270 registered members in the 18 school shuras, atotal of 216 male and female members participated,varying from 14 to 70 years of age. Out of the 216, 68 %were male and 32 % were female participants. The keyinformation to share here were that girls and modelschools were mostly females, provided majority of themwere school teachers while female participation in theboys schools were either kept limited to 30% or less thanthat.

DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Focus groups: Bryman (2008) describes focus groups as guideddiscussions among multiple study participants for in-depth investigation of a particular issue. A preparedlist of questions was posed in either Dari or Pashto tomale and female shura members that agreed to participatein the research. It was necessary to interview male shuramembers apart from female members in order to obtain“information about underlying attitudes, interaction and intentions”(Moyser & Wagstaffe, 1987, p. 18) of the male shuramembers. Annex D presents the main list of discussionquestions posed, but additional follow-up questions wereposed by the researchers in order to clarify studyparticipant opinions (Wilkinson, 2004). Due to culturalconstraints, the male researchers facilitated the malefocus group discussions and female researchersfacilitated female focus group discussions separately insome schools however, in other schools both male andfemale researchers facilitated the FGDs togetherincluding male and female participants in all FGDs. InMixed FDGs the male researchers were to ask the questionsand leading the communicating with the shura members,while the female researchers being sitting a side, takingnotes and if any extra questions were needed, the femaleresearchers would have let the male research colleagueslet in written to ask. All focus groups were audiorecorded and transcribed.

Structured observation: “major advantage of observationas a technique is its directness - you do not ask peopleabout their views, feelings or attitudes; you watch whatthey do and listen to what they say” (Robson, 2002, p.310). The researchers observed 18 shura meetings in orderto triangulate the planned focus group data bysystematically noting the sex of the speaker every 5

minutes (See Annexes A & B). The structured observationdata revealed patterns about the extent of femaleparticipation during shura meetings that they speak out.As it was the pilot study on the subject area, only theirparticipation has been observed, irrespective of thetopic etc. (See Annex A for observation template).

Documentary analysis: Documentary sources for the study were“shura journals”, i.e., the records kept by each shura oftheir meetings. These documents were examined as aresource, in the sense that the study was concerned withthe content of the documents and the insights they mayoffer (Scott, 1990). Validity in research refers to whether the researchmethod measures what it intends to measure: reliabilityrefers to whether the research tools can produce the sameresults under similar conditions is called reliability(Denscombe, 2010). To ensure the validity and reliabilityof the research tools, all research colleagues were askedfor comments on the discussion questions and thenpiloted a focus group discussion at a school in Kabul.

The research schedule was planned over three full dayswith the Kabul City Education Directorate’s EQUIPprovincial team. The researchers explained the purpose ofthe study, discussed possible approaches, answeredquestions, and sorted out the timetable and schoolselection. The school list was altered two times duringthe data collection because schools had been incorrectlyclassified by the Directorate, e.g., a boys’ school wasin reality a mixed school.

Data collection began with structured observations duringa routine shura meeting at each school. Following themeeting, a focus group discussion was held with the shuramembers. Shura journals were then collected from all themeetings attended and copied for documentary analysispurposes. Usually one shura, but a maximum of two shuras,

were visited during a given day of collection (see Annex Afor the research schedule.)

DATA ANALYSIS

The data were analyzed in three steps using thematicanalysis. Thematic analysis is a strategy wherebyqualitative data is searched for patterns, followed bycategorization of the data under categories or themes (seee.g. Braun & Clark, 2006). Thematic analysis is aninductive process, in which “the themes emerge from the data andare not imposed on it by the researcher” (Dawson, 2009, p. 119). Inthis type of analysis, the data are coded line-by-lineand paragraph-by-paragraph to find any data related tothe research questions (Coyne & Cowley, 2006). Thecategories that resulted are “simply coded data which seem tocluster together” (Stern, 1980, cited in Coyne & Cowley, 2006,p. 506).

In the initial stage of the data analysis, 12 categoriesemerged from data, which were representative statementsrelated to the empowerment of the women in one way or theother within the shura. In the next stage, the categorieswere clustered and merged to identify a more limitednumber of relevant themes on women empowerment andparticipation in the shuras. In the third and finalstage, the data were reviewed again to search forstatements that would connect to any of the four centralresearch questions. These four themes were broken downinto subcategories that mainly can define the differentroles apply within Shura on the part of femaleparticipation and empowerment, as appropriate (See Annex Efor description of the themes and subcategories).

ETHICS

This research was officially approved by the EQUIP andMoE. The researchers sought and obtained a formalpermission letter from the Ministry, ratified by theKabul City Education Directorate. The researchers showedthis letter in each school prior to data collection,

before the researchers explained the purpose andpotential benefits of the research to the shuras. Toreduce the possibility of shura members providingartificial responses, the researchers then assured theparticipating shuras that the information about theidentity of respondents would remain anonymous. Theresearchers also guaranteed that the research would poseno threats to nor result in any implications neither toindividual respondents nor to the schools – it was alsoclarified that the respondents have the right to refuseto participate in the study as well as to withdraw fromthe research at any time (Bryman, 2012). Some shuramembers, especially headmasters and headmistresses wantedto know whether there would be immediate tangiblebenefits – such as additional funding for the schools –linked to participation; the researchers refrained frommaking any promises and repeated the purpose of theresearch. In order to secure study participantidentities, pseudonyms are used in the Findings sectionbelow for narration or quotation purposes.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Question 1: To what extent do the women participate inthe school management shura?

Question 2: To what extent do the women contribute to theschool shura decisions?

Question 3: To what extent do the women contribute to theschool improvement?

Question 4: To what extent female participation in schoolshura is encouraged?

LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH

The findings of this study apply only to the contexts inwhich the research was conducted, i.e., the school shurasin Kabul City. Importantly, study participants live in an

urban setting, which – as Kandiyoti (2007) notes – is farless traditional than the majority of the country.

In addition, the pilot study cannot definitively statethat the views stated by study participants were those ofshura members. The presence of symbolic shura members –i.e., community members who had never before attended aschool shura meeting – was a common occurrence in the 18meetings observed. The majority of the female shuraparticipants comprised schoolteachers; their statementsmay have been compromised by the fear of speaking out infront of the school headmaster. In certain instances, theshura meetings were completely dominated by theheadmaster, while the other shura members only listenedwithout speaking a single word. However, the researcherscollected data from a wide range of Afghan participantswith ties to the communities in which the study tookplace, who must suffice as representative voices of theschool community.

The structured observation results presented in Annex Cwould likely have been more useful if the observationshad occurred with more frequency than every five minutes.Noting the gender of the speaker every 60 seconds, forinstance, would have lent greater validity to theresults.

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ANNEX A: SHURA STRUCTURED OBSERVATION TOOL

School: _________________________ SMS Strength2 Male: ______ Female: _______Date: ___________________________ Duration of Observation: __________________

Minute of observation Participating gender 5th

10th

15th

20th

25th

30th 35th 40th

45th 50th 55th 60th

2 By “strength”, the tool refers to the instances of participation by gender. .

ANNEX B: SHURA STRUCTURED OBSERVATION DATA

1. Frequency of Participation by Gender in Boys’ Schools SMSs

Gender of Speaker Strength3 inNumbers (#)

Strength inPercentage (%)

Male 43 90Female 5 10Total 48 100

2. Frequency of Participation by Gender inGirls’ Schools SMSs

Gender of Speaker Strength inNumbers (#)

Strength inPercentage (%)

Male 50 52Female 46 48Total 96 100

3. Frequency of Participation by Gender inMixed Schools SMSs

Gender of Speaker Strength inNumbers (#)

Strength inPercentage (%)

Male 57 79Female 15 21Total 72 100

3 “Strength” refers to the instances of participation by gender. A larger number for male/female shura participants means that they contributed more to discussions.

ANNEX C: SHURA FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

School: ________________________________Date: _________________________________District: ________________________________

1. What is the extent of women participation in the schoolmanagement shura meetings?

a) What is the total strength of females in yourshura?

b) Are they teachers or community women who aremothers or sisters to kids in this school?

c) How the females decide to participate in the SMS?Whether they take this decision on their own orinform their male family members?

d) What is the general response of the male on womenparticipation in SMS?

e) Are female convenient to participate in SMSs,while coming from home?

2. How do women influence the decision-making related toan issue that pertains to school improvement withinShura?

a) How active they (females) are in discussion? (aMale’s perspective)

b) How much male members respect the decisions madeby women in Shura?

c) What are normally the topics; women seem toointerested to participate in decisions bythemselves?

3. What are the contributions made by women within Shurathat has benefitted the wider school?

a) Do women offer their services by themselves orthey are made to do so? (male perspectives)

b) What sort of contributions, women have made sofar?

c) Do those contributions benefit individual or widerschool?

4. How do women participate in the shura subcommittees?a) Who in shura decides on the membership of

committees and how? (by process)b) What is the normal reaction of women with regard

to membership in the shura subcommittees?

5. How according to you women participation can beenhanced in the SMSs?

a) Would you really appreciate the womenparticipation be increased in the SMSs for betterschool improvement, if yes how? (A maleperspective)

b) How do you suggest spreading the word, that womenparticipation is needed in SMS?

c) What can be the further recommendations to improvewomen participation in the SMSs?

ANNEX D: CODING SCHEME

Theme 1. Women’s participation in school management shurasRefers to female members’ active participation in the shura meetings as evidenced by taking part in shura discussions.

Subcategory 1.1. Male shura members’ misconceptions about female participation

“Female participation is not much welcomed bytheir families.”

“Housework is more important.” Females cannot fight tough decisions.

Subcategory 1.2. Community reactions. Falsehoods and rumors about females in shuras. “People’s close-mindedness.” “Females’ get labeled...” Gossip about females participating in the school

management shuras. Discouraging female participation.

Subcategory 1.3. Religious beliefs around female participation in the public sphere. Women in the Afghan religious context.

Theme 2. Women’s influence on decision-making within shurasRefers to female members’ active participation in the discussions within shuras and having their “say” in the decisions at the shura level. This includes instances of:

Females not being listened to in shura decision-making processes

Females’ opinions not being included in thedecision-making processes

However, the data also included the following: “Women’s decisions are respected at home.” “Women are heard and respected in shura.”

“Suggestions are taken from our sisters.” “In their (men’s) decisions, we agree with

them.” “We are the ultimate decision-makers.”

Theme 3. Women’s contribution as shura membersRefers to contribution of women as shura members either through attracting investors/donors/their personal contacts or through their own, creative hard work within schools. Their contribution involves moral, in-kind and/or financial contributions.

Subcategory 3.1. Women’s contribution to school development / improvement

As headmistresses As teachers As mothers Documentation of women’s contribution in shura

journals.Subcategory 3.2. Women’s contribution as members of shura subcommittees

“Our sisters are part of discussion but not inthe committees.”

Women know less on Procurement and Finances. “We are women and we have a good tact of

expenses.”

Theme 4. Encouraging greater women’s participation in shuras Refers to the responses of male as well as female shura members as to their recommendations on encouraging greater women’s participation in school management shuras.

Subcategory 4.1. Mixed attitudes toward encouraging women’s participation in shuras Men approved of women participation but could not

help “The decision-making role is with men.”

What if shura men encouraged their wives toparticipate?

Participation of women in EQUIP shura workshopsand trainings.

Subcategory 4.2. Study participant recommendations Majority of female shura participants are

schoolteachers. “A woman’s voice can be easily conveyed by

women.” Female shuras for girls’ schools and male shuras

for boys’ schools. “Small but active shura works for all kinds of

school.”