KABUL - The Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday that women have largely been forgotten about in terms of development around gender-related programs.
According to the ministry, a recent survey has found that development programs have focused on only one percent of women in the country.
The Finance Ministry's financial deputy Mustafa Mastoor said he suggests that development plans should be outlined in order to take the needs of all Afghans into consideration.
He said so far the development programs have focused on women that work in offices but have not included others.
"The number that has not been focused on is not only a big (percentage of the) population but their voices have not been heard and this has resulted in big programs which have not (in turn) yielded good results over the past few years," Mastoor added.
The study by Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) reveals that despite the fact that policies mention gender equality as an important issue, government's budget to practice these programs has been limited.
"This research has been prepared at a good time as a number of development plans are being drafted," said Mir Ahmad Joyenda, deputy head of the research organization.
Meanwhile, the deputy minister of women's affairs, Nabila Musleh, welcomed the study and said: "All development plans should be prepared based on women and men's needs in order to address them properly and help them bring changes in their lives." (Tolonews)