Women’s role in family economy

Writer: Hussamudin Hamdard

Mah Jaan earns 60,000 AFs per year from a 300 square meter land in Kapisa province. This made me find this woman and meet her. She is not only a mother, a wife, a teacher but a role model for all other women in the village. She took her first step when she participated in a training workshop from NGOs working with Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock (MAIL). After training, she established a poultry farm with only 20 chickens.

In addition to the poultry farm, she started farming vegetables, strawberries, and saffron in approximately 300 square meters land. I asked her about how she started, “I started from planting corns and barleycorns but had only 5,000 AFs profit per year but now I earn 60,000 AFs per year” said Mah Jaan.

Besides the income/profit Mah Jaan gets from her small piece of land, she has other incomes from preparing homemade dry spices too. Mah Jaan has built two green houses not to stop her farms in winter. When I asked her about how she did all these all alone, she mentioned that her husband, who spends 40 years of his life serving in educating children, is Mah Jaan’s only support and helped her achieve her goals.

With all of these responsibilities, Mah Jaan trains other women in her village to be as independent as Mah Jaan and teaches them how to start taking part in their families’ economy.