| Agency Name: | Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs |
| Type: | Ministry |
| Seal: | Seal of the Ministry of Women's Affairs (Afghanistan).png |
| Superseding: | Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice |
| Jurisdiction: | Government of Afghanistan |
Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) was a ministry in the Afghan government which was established in late 2001 by the Afghan Interim Administration.
MOWA was the lead agency for promoting women's rights and advancement in Afghanistan. MOWA had a major shift in its strategy from welfare oriented, direct implementing approach to a policy influencing body by 2002.
The last minister of Women's Affairs, appointed in 2015, was Delbar Nazari.
With the announcement by the newly established Taliban government of the Cabinet of Afghanistan on 7 September 2021, the Ministry of Women's Affairs no longer exists and was replaced by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Provide direction, build inter-ministerial collaboration and develop the capacity of government agencies to ensure that policy formulation, planning, implementation, reporting and monitoring equitably respond to the differential needs and situations of women and men. This was being done by:
To ensure that Afghanistan women's legal, economic, social, political, and civic rights including their right to be free from all forms of violence and discrimination were respected, promoted and fulfilled.
As the prime agency for women's advancement, MOWA was headed by a Minister who reported directly to the President and was a member of the Cabinet. The Minister was supported by a deputy minister for technical concerns and another for administrative and financial matters.
In the fiscal year March 2004 – 2005, MOWA had a total of 1,268 staff in Kabul and 28 other provinces. Provincial Departments of Women's Affairs have not yet been set up in the provinces of Uruzan, Paktika, Daykundi and Panjshir.
With the adoption of the new Constitution defining the country's legal system and criteria, this department developed and expanded its work within the Constitutional framework in order to further gender equality in the country. It liaised with the Ministry of Justice and the Commission of Judicial Reform to ensure that women's human rights be explicitly recognized and protected in the judicial system and the standards set under international human rights instruments and being fulfilled.
| Date | Name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 2001 – June 2002 | Sima became the first minister of the newly created Women's Affairs Ministry of Afghanistan. | ||
| June 2002 – December 2004 | Due to controversy around the post of Minister of Women's Affairs, President Karzai initially did not name a minister, but named just Hoqooqmal as State Adviser to the Ministry of Women's Affairs. | ||
| July 2002 – December 2004 | |||
| December 2004 – March 2006 | |||
| March 2006 – August 2006 | Sobhrang was named as successor for Jalal, but the Afghan Afghan Lower House did not approve her candidacy and President Karzai was forced to name someone else. | ||
| August 2006 – April 2015 | From January 2010 until March 2012 Husn Banu Ghazanfar served as acting minister of Women's affairs. In January she failed a confidence vote in the Afghan Lower House necessary for a second term as minister. However, Palwasha Hassan, who was named as a replacement by President Karzai, also failed a confidence vote, and Karzai appointed Ghazanfar as acting minister. In a vote in March 2012 the Parliament finally formally approved her leadership over the ministry of Women's Affairs. | ||
| April 2015 – August 2021 | Delbar Nazari was the last minister of the Women's Affairs Ministry before the 2021 Taliban offensive | ||