17-September 2019 AWEC Paktia Office-
Importance of Women’ Vote in Presidential Elections of 2019
One day session was arranged on importance of women’s vote in presidential election of 2019: On 17th September, 2019, the provincial office of Afghan Women’s Educational Center conducted youth debate session on Importance of Women’s Vote in Presidential Elections of 2019. It was focused on the presidential elections that will be conducted in the very near time in all over Afghanistan. The participants for this session were: youth, member of civil societies, university students, employees of governmental and non-governmental organizations, and members from community. After the recitation of the few verses of the Holy Quran and introduction, the participants started brainstorming discussion over some major concepts in order to clear the main topic: vote, election, legitimacy for election, significance of elections, women and elections, and the presidential elections of the 2019 as well women’s participation in it.
Onward the brainstorming, the participants were equally and randomly divided into five different groups to discuss the issue in small groups and make the conclusion of their discussions. All the groups were discussing the same points: definition of vote in the views of participants, importance of elections, relevancy of women to elections, the strength of women’s vote, and the positive consequences of voting especially by women as well as the negative results of not voting. Every group discussed the above mentioned points in their own groups and drawn conclusions which were shared through presentations by all the groups. As all the groups had same topics to discuss, at the end of presentations, representatives from all the groups made another group to unify the conclusions from all the presentations.
17-September 2019 AWEC Paktia Office
Likewise, during the second group work, the participants were regrouped into five. All the groups debated over the challenges and opportunities that women will have during the presidential elections of 2019. Moreover, they highlighted the opportunities that can be used to fight against the challenges that they will face in order to get their political rights. Besides that, the significance of women’s voting in presidential elections were debated in detail. All the participants considered voting women as a vital issue that will result in the better future of Afghanistan.
At the end of the session, in spite of sharing their views about the topic, some of the participants reflected upon the importance of such events for long term impacts and better future of their society. All of them thanked AWEC for such endeavors that is ultimately resulting in positive changes in their society.
