KABUL (CP) - A Canadian organization is reaching out to women in

Afghanistan, teaching them to work as journalists and opening radio

stations, hoping to change the view of women in a society that has

traditionally held them in low esteem.

The Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, or IMPACS,

financed by Canada's International Development Agency, has opened two

radio stations in the war-ravaged country and is working on a third.

"I think that people see it as a way of contributing to the education

of women," said project director Jane McElhone.

"They see us as part of the peace-building process, and that's what

we want to be," added McElhone, who for years lived and worked in

Montreal before moving overseas.

"We hope the radio stations will mean that women are less isolated."

Women's rights is one of the dominant issues being debated at a

critical meeting in Kabul, where more than 500 delegates from across

Afghanistan are in the final stages of trying to hammer out a new

constitution.

Female delegates attending the loya jirga, or grand council, were

successful in winning an agreement to replace the words "citizens of

Afghanistan" with the expression "women and men" in one article of

the document pertaining to education.

However, strong arguments have been made against including the same

terminology in other parts of the draft. As well, there are fears

among women that vague references to Islam in the constitution could

be used to trample on their right to freedom of expression.

Sharifa Zermati Wardak remembers travelling to Kabul one day during

the Taliban's rule and being beaten by a stranger for adjusting her

burka in public so she could see where she was stepping.

Just two years later, Wardak, a student of journalism in the IMPACS

program, proudly walks the streets of the Afghan capital without the

head-to-toe garment, although she continues to cover her flowing dark

hair with a scarf.

It is a small freedom in a society that largely continues to treat

women as though they have less value than men. Even today, women are

often criticized for relaying their views in public.

A female delegate from Afghanistan's western Farah province, for

instance, remains under UN protection after she accused some

participants at the loya jirga of being "criminals" for their part in

the ruinous civil war of the 1990s.

Malalai Joya's comments set off a shouting match with dozens of

hardliners at the gathering, who denounced her as a communist and

demanded she be removed from the session.

As part of her work as a journalist, Wardak spoke recently to a

reporter from the BBC about the difficulties faced by women in

Afghanistan, particularly those forced to cover themselves by wearing

burkas.

When elders in Wardak's community complained about her comments, she

was admonished by her family and told not to return to her village.

"My cousins, sisters, my mother, they said, 'Stop working and sit at

home. You have brought shame and you are having a very bad affect on

our family,' " said Wardak through an interpreter.

"It was a very bad thing in the history of my village."

There are some who have complained that empowering women to speak

freely is hurting traditional Afghan society.

"One person told us, 'What are you doing to traditional family

values,' " said McElhone.

"But what we know is that we're here to work with women, and the

women are welcoming us with open arms. They want us here."

McElhone has high hopes for her students, even if they don't continue

in journalism.

"Some of them may become politicians. We hope some of them will

become great leaders," she said, standing in the sunshine outside her

offices in downtown Kabul.

In a country where between 80 and 90 per cent of women are considered

illiterate, education is something that remains desperately lacking,

but it's something McElhone hopes to change.

"One of the reasons we're setting up radio stations for women is so

that women can tell their stories on radio and reach all of the women

around the country who are still living very isolated lives," she

said.

"We think if they hear other women's stories on the radio they can

learn, but they can also not feel so alone in their lives."

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