The number of women employees in civil service departments has increased by five percent in 2018 against its previous year, said Ahmad Nader Naderi, Chairman of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission.

Addressing a gathering on the International Women’s Day in Kabul, Naderi said the participation of Afghan women in government departments has reached to 27 percent.

The statistics of the authority show that women made 22 percent of government employees in 2017 while it has increased to 27.33 percent this year.

Capacity building, learning new skills, government’s support, easing the appointment process and organizing written tests for vacant government posts helped women to play a greater role in civil service departments, he said.

“This year has been the best year for women in terms of being recruited in government’s institutions,” Naderi said. “In the past years, women had prominent role in sacred profession of teaching and health services, but today, fortunately, the opportunity has been provided for them to work in different fields and different levels of management.”

Naderi said he is hopeful that women will make 50 percent of Afghanistan’s civil service employees in the future.

Naderi said there are possibilities that women’s role will decrease if they are not supported.

“We can see the threat of a rollback in different areas including in politics, in the talks for ending the war or in social and cultural obstacles and limitations which are facing women,” Naderi said.

This comes as a number of women rights activists have expressed their concerns over a possible ignorance to women’s rights and achievements in the peace talks with the Taliban.

The activists have said that their rights and past achievements should not be sacrificed in the talks with the Taliban.

Afghan women must have a say in the future of their country, Amnesty International said today, as the human rights organization unveiled a mural in Kabul celebrating their tremendous achievements.

“Afghan women are famous for their resolve and we are celebrating that this Women’s Day. Despite more than 17 years of conflict, they have made remarkable strides. They are lawyers, doctors, judges, teachers, engineers, athletes, activists, politicians, journalists, bureaucrats, run their own businesses and are in the ranks of the military and police,” said Samira Hamidi, South Asia campaigner at Amnesty International.

According to the Amnesty International, in 2009, Afghanistan passed the law on Elimination of Violence Against Women, after a hard-fought struggle led by women human rights defenders. The law, which fell into disuse after parts of it were absorbed into Afghanistan’s revised Penal Code, was reaffirmed by President Ashraf Ghani in March 2018.