The United Nations (UN) Women's office in Afghanistan discussed the role of Afghan women in the spring Presidential and Provincial Council elections on Monday, emphasizing the importance of female voter participation and security for female candidates.
""We don't have female candidates in the Presidential elections, but in the Provincial Council ones we do and they have to be able to go to the districts and campaign, but there is the issue of security," UN Women representative Ingibjorg Solrun Glsladottir said. "They have to feel safe to participate in the elections."
The Taliban has been known to target female government officials, with a number of high-profile attacks having occurred in the past year alone. In August, there was an assassination attempt against a female Senator, and a female MP was abducted.
However, the UN officials said security was not just an issue for the candidates, but would also play a major role in determining the level of female voter participation in the elections.
"We will not have an inclusive election, as we would like, if women can't feel safe participating," Glsladottir said. "So it's important that they excercise their democratic right to vote."
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has made female participation in the upcoming elections one of its top priorities. According to IEC officials, of the over three million Afghans registered to vote this year, over 30 percent of them are women.
TOLOnews spoke to a number of Afghan women in Kabul, who confirmed the UN's concerns about security, emphasizing that their participation was predicated on their sense of safety.
"We demand security for the elections in order to that women can travel to the polling stations and cast ballots in favor of their desired candidate," a female student at the American University in Kabul named Marina said.
For reasons beyond just female participation, security for the elections is a major concern for election officials. Many have warned that insecurity could open the door to electoral improprieties, especially in more remote areas of the country, that would threaten the credibility of the elections.
"If election security is maintained, women will cast their votes," an NGO employee named Mariam said. "Security is essential to enable women, even in remote regions, to go to the polling centers and cast ballots."
The elections come at a critical in Afghanistan as the NATO coalition prepares to withdraw at the end of 2014. The Presidential vote could also mark the first democratic transitional of Presidential power in Afghan history.