KABUL — Muzhgan Masoomi's attacker stabbed her 14 times with a thick blade used to slaughter animals, tearing wide gashes in her flesh before leaving the government worker for dead on the outskirts of the Afghan capital. With a severe limp and no control over her bladder – caused by the blade scraping her spinal cord – the 22-year-old can no longer work at the Ministry of Public Works, where she was a financial assistant before the assault. Women who pursue careers in Afghanistan often face opposition in a society where often they are ostracized. Despite commitments to better the rights of women 11 years into the NATO-led war, some say the authorities need to do more to prevent violence against women who work, particularly in government roles. There are now fears that as the 2014 deadline looms for most foreign troops to leave, opportunities for women in the public sphere could shrink as confidence weakens in the face of continuing violence. “I have no enemies, no links to gangs, and look what has happened to me. The situation for women in this country is getting worse day by day," Masoomi told Reuters in her brightly lit home, a few minutes' walk from where she was stabbed. Shaking her long black ponytail, Masoomi said of her assailant: “He didn't like women working out of the house". He threatened her with menacing phone calls and text messages in the months leading up to the attack. Her parents said the attacker, a relative who worked as a policeman, was now behind bars over the stabbing. The security concerns of male government workers are taken more seriously than those of women, said Colonel Sayed Omar Saboor, deputy director for gender and human rights at the Interior Ministry. How well female government workers are protected was called into question in July when a suicide bomber targeted and killed Hanifa Safi, regional head of women's affairs in eastern Laghman province. Authorities ignored repeated requests for protection, her family said afterwards. Laghman officials declined to comment. Officially the government must provide security – usually two bodyguards – for ministers, members of parliament and tribal elders, said Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi. But women not in those senior roles, such as Safi or Masoomi, are in dire need of protection simply because of their gender, Saboor said. But Sediqqi said it would be “very difficult" for the police to provide security and guards for everyone who works in government. There area about 74,000 women out of 363,000 state employees. — Reuters
