Behind the blue burqa is an Afghan businesswoman on her way to work and shedding the restraints of the past. Decades of war and repression confined women to their homes, unable to work or study.
Today nearly 90 per cent of them are illiterate. Few are encouraged to venture outside the home to find work.
But a growing number of women are finding that the handicraft skills they practice at home can form the basis of their own business. Nasima Payman is one of these women. She travelled to Italy to study handicraft design through an International Labour Organization project that trains women entrepreneurs.
Nasima Payman, handicraft Designer
In the time of the Taliban we were not allowed to go out of the houses alone. When I went to Italy, it meant travelling far from my country, but fortunately Afghan women have more freedom now and we would like to be active and work in society.
Nasima now works with a team of women who sew her designs. With support from the Marisa Bellisario Foundation the ILO’s project has reached over 3000 women. Their handicraft production has improved to the point where they are poised to enter a global market.
Latifa Abasy studied at the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin, Italy and is passing on her knowledge to other Afghan women.
Latifa Abasy, International Trade Development Director, Afghan Women’s Business Federation
We use a training toolkit from the International Labour Organisation to train women in Kabul and other provinces. Step by step, they are learning how to start a business, even with small amounts of money.
Another Turin graduate, Gulsum Satarzai, runs a handicraft market in Kabul set up exclusively for businesses run by women.
Gulsum Satarzai, Director of Afghan Women Business Association
Before the trip to Italy, we didn’t have the know-how to market our skills, but now we are able to sell our products both inside Afghanistan and internationally.
Despite the odds, women are pushing for their place in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.
Print
Email