constitute an urgent issue for democracy ideologies.
Over two decades of civil war in Afghanistan,
and the rule of the Taliban (1996–2001) have led to
the disintegration of the state, social destructuring,
and deprivation of women in terms of education,
health facilities, work, and social and political par-
ticipation. Although in the post-Taliban era women
have obtained the right to education and to work,
many years are needed to reconstruct the country
and to empower women. The building of democracy
is further hindered by poverty, lack of political sta-
bility, and fundamentalist opposition to women’s
social and political participation, as illustrated by
the low representation of women at the Loya Jirga
(traditional assembly), and to the presence of women
as cabinet ministers or in other decision-making
posts. President Hamid Karzai dismissed Sima
Samar, the first minister in charge of women’s
affairs, following pressure by traditionalists, who
had dubbed her the Afghan Salman Rushdie. Indi-
cative of the lack of attention of the new Afghan
government to women’s problems is the fact that
Habiba Sarabi, the new minister, was forced to dis-
miss 150 of her female staff due to financial short-
falls. Faced with structural, political, and cultural
impediments to women’s empowerment, educated
Afghan women, who are conscious that democracy
cannot be attained unless women’ rights are estab-
lished, have started to mobilize. Habiba Sarabi
maintains: “The situation is very saddening but I’m
determined to struggle.” Women members of the
editorial board of Rooz, the first post-Taliban
women’s magazine published in Kabul, as well as
founders and members of women non-governmen-
tal organizations share this determination.
In Iran, despite the rule of Islamic law and impor-
tant obstacles in the way of women attaining
authority and power, building capacity for democ-
racy is increasing due to higher literacy rates for
women (80 percent of females aged six and over are
literate), higher education for young women (50
percent of the 1,500,000 students are female),
women’s increasing social, cultural, and economic
activities, and their increasing political involve-
ment. Moreover, women’s representation at local
and municipal councils is growing (an 80 percent
increase in the 2003 elections compared to 1999).
Women’s local civic activity combined with their
involvement in national politics is likely to enhance
grassroots bottom-up democracy.
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Paris 1961.Azadeh Kian-ThiébautIsraelIsrael defines itself as both the Jewish state and a
democracy. The Declaration of Establishment of
the State of Israel, signed on 14 May 1948, explic-
itly calls for “the natural right of the Jewish people
to be masters of their own fate,...in their own
sovereign State”; it also stresses Israel’s commit-
ment to democratic principles including elections,
social and political equality, and “freedom of reli-
gion, conscience, language, education and culture”
(Israel 1948). Israel lacks a constitution, instead
relying on a series of Basic Laws such as the 1992
Basic Law of Individual Freedom and Dignity,
which guarantees the protection of all life, personal
property, and individual liberties.
Many Israelis articulate identity by referencing
dichotomies that highlight tensions within Israel
over nationalism (Jewish/Palestinian), ethnicity
(European/Oriental), and religion (secular/religious,
Jewish/non-Jewish). For example, a feminist, left-
leaning, secular woman of Moroccan parents might
explain her civil identity in terms of politics that
emphasize democracy, her national identity as Jew-
ish, and her ethnic identity as Oriental or Moroc-
can while a Christian Palestinian woman might
describe her national identity as Palestinian, her
religious identity as Roman Orthodox, and her civil
identity as Israeli. Such categorical distinctions
deeply structure and affect a person’s experience and
participation within the state as one element within
each pair carries more political, social, economic,