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Paper long abstract:

Afghan women comprise of more than fifty percent of Afghanistan's population, yet the bureaucratic agencies, and ministries, such as MUDL, remain male-dominated, which translates into public policy decisions that construe women's invisibility in public spaces. The case study of the MUDL's activities, which examines projects in the city of Kabul, demonstrate that, due to the lack of women in positions of power, cities are being rebuild through application paradigm that results in the exclusion of women from public arenas. Afghan men perceive themselves as those in charge of shielding their mothers, daughters, and wives from conflict, in a society that finds itself in a seemingly constant "state of nature". This dynamic whereby men see themselves as the protectors of women increases the chances that women will be sidelined both when it comes to their presence as decision makers in the public bureaucracy and to the public policies that would ensure their presence in the public spaces. Understanding the role Afghan men play to withstand the application paradigms that continues women's invisibility in public spaces is significant when aiming to untangle the mess produced by the prolonged war within a co-habitat space during the re-construction. This is done by approaching the topic of inclusive space for Afghan women in the public sphere with an international feminist lens that seeks to understand how spatial design is deeply intertwined with issues of gender, power, religion, sexuality and kinship within the society and household. To understand the shift in power dynamics as women's rights in Afghanistan evolve, and how the Ministry of Urban Development and Land negotiates and engages with the changed circumstances in the spatial design.

KEYWORDS: Geopolitics, power, space, gender, politics, war, Afghanistan, Afghan women, descriptive representative, religion, state of nature