ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Robert Siegel.
On Saturday, Afghans will go to the polls to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai. Karzai has ruled since the fall of the Taliban, who were known for, among other things, extreme restrictions on women's rights.
As NPR's Sean Carberry reports, women are intensely interested in this weekend's vote but it's unclear if they'll turn out in large numbers.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken)
SEAN CARBERRY, BYLINE: On International Women's Day last month, presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani held a rally in Kabul attended by several thousand women. While they were all wearing headscarves, there was not a full-length burqa to be seen in the crowd. And the Western-educated Ghani did something highly unusual here, he let his wife, a Lebanese-American Christian, address the crowd.
RULA GHANI: (Foreign language spoken)
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CARBERRY: Women have been far more visible and vocal during this campaign than in previous elections, at least in urban areas. And the candidates have made much more of an effort to address women's rights in their speeches and debates. But that's not necessarily what's swaying female voters.
Ghani is a Western-educated former World Bank official and that's that what matters to 24-year-old Khatera Tajamyar.
KHATERA TAJAMYAR: (Through Translator) Four years ago, I studied a couple of his books and I prefer him as a candidate because of his knowledge.
ELAY ERSHAD: We need someone who can build this country.
CARBERRY: Parliamentarian Elay Ershad and other women here say they fully support Ghani, even though one of the other leading candidates, Zalmai Rassoul, has a female vice presidential running mate.
ERSHAD: I would have not vote for someone because she is a woman or that person is a woman.
CARBERRY: She says it's about policies, not gender.
And the third frontrunner, Abdullah Abdullah, has female supporters for a mix of reasons, as well.
HAFEZO MIR: (Foreign language spoken)
CARBERRY: Fifty-five-year old Hafezo Mir says she supports Abdullah because he's Mujahid, referring to the anti-Taliban Mujahideen. Abdullah was one of the top political officials of the Mujahideen.
AQLIMA MORADI: Women, like men, they are not one bloc.
CARBERRY: Activist Aqlima Moradi says that Afghan women are motivated to vote for different reasons; some out of concerns for security and the economy, while others are focused on preserving the gains in women's rights since the fall of the Taliban. But Moradi argues the presidential candidates have failed to motivate many women to vote in this election.
MORADI: They were not specific. They were sort of conservative in their speeches about women.
CARBERRY: And, as Moradi and Afghanistan expert Martine Van Bijlert both argue, many women who do vote don't end up voting for the candidate they personally prefer.
MARTINE VAN BIJLERT: It's not a given actually that women will necessarily vote differently from their men.
CARBERRY: Especially rural women, who are still largely illiterate and subject to tribal or family pressure.
Van Bijlert also says that even if female turnout is high on paper, it doesn't mean all of them came out to vote. There is an illegal practice, especially in the conservative and violent parts of the country, where men cast proxy votes.
BIJLERT: Basically, men coming in with large bags of voter cards for women and voting en masse for the women of their family or for whoever.
SIEGEL: This is one of the common forms of election fraud in Afghanistan. And Moradi says that the surge in pre-election violence could scare proportionally more women from voting, further diminishing their voice in this historic election.
Sean Carberry, NPR News, Kabul.
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