Masuma Esmati-Wardak

Masuma Esmati-Wardak was an Afghan writer and politician. She was jointly one of the first women to serve in the Afghan parliament and served as Minister of Education.

Masuma Esmati-Wardak
Minister of Education
Member of the House of the People
In office
1965–1969
ConstituencyKandahar

In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958.[1]

In 1964 King Mohammed Zahir Shah appointed her to an advisory committee that reviewed the draft 1964 constitution,[2] which granted women the right to vote and stand for election. In 1965 she was elected to represent Kandahar in the House of the People of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights.[1][3] She was the only one of the four women elected in 1965 to run for re-election in 1969, but lost her seat.[4]

She married Abdul Qayum Wardak, a former minister of education and professor in the Science Faculty of Kabul University. In 1987 she became President of the Afghan Women's Council.[1]

References
  1. Mattar, Philip (2004). Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: D-K. Macmillan Reference USA. p. 786. ISBN 978-0-02865-771-4.
  2. Sarfraz Khan (2013) Politics of policy and legislation affectin g women in Afghanistan: One step forward two steps back Central Asia Journal, Number 73
  3. Skaine, Rosemarie (2001). The Women of Afghanistan Under the Taliban. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-78648-174-3.
  4. Louis Dupree (2014) Afghanistan Princeton University Press, p653



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