Entrepreneurial Afghan Women Changing Perceptions

 When the Taliban came to power in 1996, Zainularab Miri was a teacher in Kabul. The Taliban shut down schools for girls, and Miri fled to her home province of Ghazni where the Taliban had less influence.

There, she continued to teach secretly and opened a small, clandestine beekeeping and honey-making business, all the while fearing that if the Taliban found out about either, it could cost her life. She called the Taliban era “a black period for Afghan women.”

When the Taliban were overthrown, Miri was able to take her business out of hiding, but she really didn’t know how to run it, much less expand it.

In 2006, she was selected to take part in Project Artemis, hosted by the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. The program aims to bring Afghan women entrepreneurs to the U.S. for an intensive, two-week business skills course.

“I was running my business, but I didn’t know how to operate it well or track my accounts,” Miri said in a video about the program. “My ability as a businesswoman grew from Earth to sky. What I learned about management, marketing and leadership had a profound impact on my business.”

Now, she has hundreds of bee hives and has taught other women the business.

Cultural shift

Perhaps even more important than what is learned in the classroom and from mentors is the psychological impact the program seems to have on the women.

“The other part of it is the empowerment,” said Scerra. “For the first time, many of them are feeling like they’re supported and people are believing in them. The concept of supporting other women and networking was foreign. We emphasize team building and trust.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Asila, who said that in Afghanistan, when women say they want to do something like start a business, “most people don’t believe they can do it.”

As the women’s influence grows, the hope is there can be some fundamental change in how women are viewed.

Rangina Hamidi, a 2005 graduate of the program who runs an embroidering business, says when a woman earns money, it gives her power and prevents her from being seen as a liability to a family.

“Food, clothing, health, every aspect of [a woman’s] life has to be taken care of by a male figure of the household,” she said in a video about the program. “Now with an ability to earn money at home, they have an ability to be an asset to the family. Indirectly we’re also changing the social dynamics of the society, and that is an important step to changing women’s rights and women’s social reality. By the mere fact that they have money in their hands, they’re making decisions.”

But it’s not only women who are benefitting, said Barrett. During a trip to Afghanistan, she visited the Afghan Women Business Federation, which was primarily established by Artemis graduates. While there, she said she saw men learning computer and business marketing skills from women.

“Men were counting on women and learning from women in a big cultural shift,” she said.

Still, Barrett is realistic about how far Afghan women still have to go.

“We will be thrilled when we don’t have to give the women of Afghanistan a boost,” she said. “We have no perceptions that we’re close to a lack of need. There remains a great deal of need and while there is a need we will continue the program.”

Karen Brown, who teaches operations management and project leadership at Thunderbird, said it’s important to remember that these women all have to control their business and their personal lives.

“None of them have a house husband who says ‘Honey, I’ll do the chores’,” she said “These are courageous energetic women who are doing something that has not been historically common for women and they are to be greatly admired.”

Source: Voice of America