Unlikely Allies on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan

On November 14, the New York Times reported on efforts in Afghanistan by NGO Marie Stopes International to raise awareness about birth control techniques.  Afghanistan has the highest fertility rate in Asia, at 6 children per woman, yet also has an extremely low per capita GDP.  Matthew Yglesias noted on his Think Progress blog that the underlying assumption behind these efforts is that lowering the fertility rate in Afghanistan will help the country develop economically, as it would ease impoverished families’ demographic pressures.

What is especially notable about Marie Stopes International’s efforts is that the organization used mullahs to inform other mullahs in Mazar-e-Sharif about birth control.  According to the article, the course, taught by mullahs for mullahs, delivered messages that appear simple by Western standards: allowing women to wait two years between pregnancies to give their bodies time to recover and encouraging women to breastfeed their children for at least 21 months.  The trainers used religion in their appeals, arguing that birth control is not un-Islamic, and that fewer pregnancies would be good for the mullahs’ communities.

One of the trainers, a 29-year-old mullah named Syed Wasem Massoom, said that Afghans, particularly those who live in cities, have been asking the trainers about how to have fewer children.  Though the NY Times acknowledged that the mullah attendees were paid to attend the course, one mullah was quoted as saying, “This was a useful and friendly discussion. … If you have too many children and you can’t control them, that’s bad for Islam.”

These efforts are an excellent example of adjusting efforts in Afghanistan around the cultural sensitivities of the target population.  The trainers used Koranic verses to defend birth control practices to the program’s attendees, likely making a more persuasive argument than they would have using Western arguments.

Marie Stopes also has other operations in Afghanistan, distributing birth control pills door-to-door in Kabul. The organization handed out 11,000 packages in September 2009.  In the past, similar birth control efforts have been very dangerous, as Taliban insurgents in 2008 assassinated a public health worker who had been distributing condoms and birth control pills in Kandahar.

Marie Stopes International’s new efforts in Afghanistan integrates past lessons into an approach that tries to take advantage of Afghanistan’s existing power and influence structures to address the country’s demographic challenges.