Military

DATE=11/24/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=U-S AFGHAN WOMEN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-283497

BYLINE=BARRY WOOD

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A leading female member of the U-S Congress said Saturday Afghan women must play a part in the proposed provisional government in Afghanistan. V-O-A's Barry Wood reports.

TEXT: In nationally broadcast remarks, Los Angeles Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald said it is paramount that women return to the more prominent role they once occupied in Afghan society. She denounced the horrendous condition of women under Taleban rule where they could not drive, work, go to school, or show their faces in public. It wasn't always that way. At one time, Ms. Millender-McDonald recalled, women comprised 70 percent of Afghan teachers, doctors, nurses, and bankers.

///MILLENDER-MCDONALD ACT///

In 1977 Afghanistan ratified a constitution giving full equal rights to women under the law and without discrimination. Women made up 15 percent of the highest legislative decision making body in the country and played an integral and influential role in the governance of Afghan people.

///END ACT///

Ms. Millender-McDonald addressed the American public in the Democratic party response to President Bush's regular Saturday broadcast. The democratic lawmaker said she is in accord with the views on the plight of Afghan women expressed last week by First Lady Laura Bush.

Ms. Millender-McDonald is optimistic that with the Taleban no longer in power Afghan women will no longer be forced to live in degraded circumstances.

///Millender-McDonald act///

We as Americans must stand up for the women of Afghanistan. After years of being subjugated and brutally repressed it is time for them to return to the level of governance and participation they once enjoyed and were guaranteed under the Afghan constitution.

///end act///

Ms. Millender-McDonald said no government in Afghanistan will be viable unless it includes all elements of society including women. (signed)

NEB/BDW/RH