Masuma Esmati-Wardak

Masuma Esmati-Wardak is an Afghan writer and politician. In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958. Between 1959 and 1964 she was the principal of Zarghuna High School in Kabul, and was then appointed as director-general of secondary education. In 1964 she became a member of the Constitutional Advisory Committee which endorsed the progressive 1964 Afghan Constitution. In 1965 she was elected to represent Kandahar in the Lower House of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights. She married Abdul Qayum Wardak (former minister of education and professor in the Science Faculty of Kabul University). In 1987 she became President of the Afghan Women's Council. Under President Najibullah she served as Minister of Education. Masuma has written many books about women's rights in both Pashto and Dari, concerning the contributions and efforts of Afghan women. Her book Women's Contributions to Pashtu Oral Tradition was also translated into English.