FACTORS EFFECTING WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN IN 2014 AND 2019

Abstract

This study is an attempt to explore the factors that affected women’s electoral participation in the presidential elections of Afghanistan. Since women have always played their role in human societies, it is important to understand how they participated in politics and what factors did affect their political life in Afghanistan. Women got their fundamental right to vote after the 2004 constitution of Afghanistan and they participated in all the coming elections in Afghanistan. They equally participated in the presidential elections in 2014 and 2019. The study takes Nangarhar province as a case study to explore the question guiding the study. The study took the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections to investigate the women role in electoral politics and factors that affected their politics both positively or negatively. The central question that guides this study is “What are the key factors that facilitated or hindered women's participation in the presidential elections in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan in 2014 and 2019?”. The study is aimed at to examine the factors that facilitated or impeded women's participation in the presidential elections in Afghanistan in 2014 and 2019 and to explore the experiences and perspectives of women who actively participated as well those who did not in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections in Afghanistan.

The study implied purposive sampling to identify and recruit participants who meet the inclusion criteria. The study gathered data from the respondents both from urban and rural areas from Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. This approach ensured that the selected participants are the most relevant to the research topic, thereby enhancing the richness and depth of the data collected. Approximately 30-40 online and in person semi-structured interviews were planned, although the final number of interviews was determined by data saturation, where new information ceases to emerge. Among the respondents, 50% were from the rural areas and 50% from the urban areas to accumulate the experience of both females in urban and rural areas.  The findings of the study suggest that women found both elections as an energetic force to boost their energies to participate in politics and a risk that could take their lives. Women were motivated by the sense of responsibility and the wish to exercise their most important right. They were equally barred from voting by the risk of violence at the polling stations.