Masuma Esmati-Wardak

Masuma Esmati-Wardak
Masuma Esmati-Wardak
Minister of Education
	In office; 1990-1992
Member of the House of the People
	In office; 1965–1969
Constituency	Kandahar

Masuma Esmati-Wardak (1930 -), was an Afghan writer and politician. She was jointly one of the first women to serve in the Afghan parliament in 1965, and served as Minister of Education in 1990-1992.

Life and career

In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958.^[1]

In 1959, she and Kubra Noorzai became one of the first women to appear in public in Afghanistan without a veil after Queen Humaira Begum had removed hers, supporting the call by the Prime minister Mohammed Daoud Khan for women to voluntary remove their veil.^[2]

In 1964 King Mohammed Zahir Shah appointed her to an advisory committee that reviewed the draft 1964 constitution,^[3] which granted women the right to vote and stand for election. In 1965 she was elected to represent Kandahar in the House of the People of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights.^[1]^[4] She was the only one of the four women elected in 1965 to run for re-election in 1969, but lost her seat.^[5]

In 1987 she became President of the Afghan Women's Council.^[1]

In May 1990 she was appointed cabinet minister of Education and Training in the government of Mohammad Najibullah.^[6] She was one of two women in the cabinet alongside Saleha Farooq Etemadi, and one of the first women in the Afghan government.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mattar, Philip (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 786. ISBN 978-0-02865-771-4.
^ Tamim Ansary (2012) Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan
^ Sarfraz Khan (2013) Politics of policy and legislation affectin g women in Afghanistan: One step forward two steps back Central Asia Journal, Number 73
^ Skaine, Rosemarie (2001). The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78648-174-3.
^ Louis Dupree (2014) Afghanistan Princeton University Press, p653
^ Emadi, Hafizullah, Repression, resistance, and women in Afghanistan, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 2002
^ The first five was Kubra Noorzai in 1965, Shafiqa Ziaie in 1971, Anahita Ratebzad in 1976, Masuma Esmati-Wardak in 1990 and Saleha Farooq Etemadi in 1990.

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[mattar-1] Mattar, Philip (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 786. ISBN 978-0-02865-771-4.

[TA-2] Tamim Ansary (2012) Games without Rules: The Often-Interrupted History of Afghanistan

[3] Sarfraz Khan (2013) Politics of policy and legislation affectin g women in Afghanistan: One step forward two steps back Central Asia Journal, Number 73

[4] Skaine, Rosemarie (2001). The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78648-174-3.

[5] Louis Dupree (2014) Afghanistan Princeton University Press, p653

[ReferenceC-6] Emadi, Hafizullah, Repression, resistance, and women in Afghanistan, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 2002

[7] The first five was Kubra Noorzai in 1965, Shafiqa Ziaie in 1971, Anahita Ratebzad in 1976, Masuma Esmati-Wardak in 1990 and Saleha Farooq Etemadi in 1990.

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