USAID Promote: Women in Government Gender Analysis Report (Phase I)

The project is a joint commitment by the United States and Afghan Governments, and is designed to increase and advance the number of women in the Afghan civil service. In close coordination with the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA), USAID Promote: Women in Government aims to ensure women are always represented at the highest levels of policy and decision-making in Afghan society and government. The project has three objectives: facilitate women's entry into decision-making roles in government service, encourage a hospitable environment for female staff in government, and increase local stakeholder support for women in government. To support these objectives, the project conducted a Gender Analysis in tandem with the Partnership Assessment to analyze the status of men and women as related to project activities and how local gender norms will shape project design and implementation. The Gender Analysis was completed in two phases, focusing on Kabul and four other provinces. The analysis comprised three parts: document review, structured interviews, and analysis for project recommendations. The document review provided a foundational understanding of historical constraints faced by women, lessons learned from ongoing gender equality and women's empowerment activities, and identified relevant people and institutions to include in the structured interviews. Structured interviews with counterparts, partners, project beneficiaries, and their communities were conducted in-country, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from 64 females and 45 males. The data collected from the document review and structured interviews was used to analyze the existing constraints and develop recommendations for opportunities to further the objectives of the USAID Promote: Women in Government project. The analysis process revealed detailed information about the structural and cultural challenges faced by women trying to enter government, including security issues and the distance between home and work. The sex-disaggregated information was then used to shape the recommendations to overcome the perceived challenges for women working in government. The resulting recommendations center on how to ensure that existing project activities are designed and implemented in a way that addresses the differing ways in which women and men perceive women working in government. The project aims to facilitate women's entry into decision-making roles in government service, encourage a hospitable environment for female staff in government, and increase local stakeholder support for women in government. The project's objectives are aligned with the goals of the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MoWA) and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA). The project's methodology involved a combination of document review, structured interviews, and analysis for project recommendations. The document review provided a foundational understanding of historical constraints faced by women, lessons learned from ongoing gender equality and women's empowerment activities, and identified relevant people and institutions to include in the structured interviews. Structured interviews with counterparts, partners, project beneficiaries, and their communities were conducted in-country, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data from 64 females and 45 males.