The Kabul municipality has appointed at least 11 women in the capital’s district municipalities.

Officials from Kabul municipality on Tuesday said the body is looking to appoint more women in various sectors and bring about significant change in this feature of Kabul city.

Meanwhile, officials from the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA) welcomed the move as a positive step, saying women’s presence in government institutions was still delicate. 

Those newly appointed as deputies include Waheeda Samadi, Mursal Mehman, Habiba Sadeqi, Massoudah Ferdaws, Sweeta Naseri, Muzhghan Hajjizada, Nazifa Oryakhel, Razia Arifi, Haseena Hussain, Naseema Hamidi and Faheema Behzad.

“The logic behind the move is to increase the role of women in urban management,” said Shoaib Rahim, acting mayor of Kabul.

Massoudah Ferdaws, appointed as deputy head of Kabul’s district 8, has a Master's degree in visual arts from Kabul University.

“Previously I worked in the department of culture of the Kabul municipality and later they recommended that the post of deputies had been announced, and if interested you could apply for it, so I accepted the proposal with interest and passed the interview,” said Ferdaws.

“We cannot do anything unless our people take part in the reconstruction work and greenery of the city from a social and political perspective,” said Muzhgan Hajjizada, deputy head of Kabul’s district 11 municipality chief.

After the establishment of National Unity Government (NUG), the government leaders pledged to increase the presence of women in government institutions by 30 percent, but the ministry of women affairs says the government has not achieved the target.

“Overall, at the government level, we have achieved 26 percent of the 36 percent,” said deputy minister of women affairs, Sphzhmai Wardak.

“Women’s roles must be increased from 30 percent, this is not enough,” said women’s rights activist, Saleha Eshaqzai Khaliqi.

This development takes place at a time when government leaders recently made two major appointments, including the appointment of Adela Raz, as Afghanistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations and Roya Rahmani as Afghan ambassador to the US.