Very briefly, Afghanistan has always been a conservative society. This is sure. But before the insurgents took over, 75% of all teachers across the country were women. Many doctors, many lawyers, many nurses were women. So throughout the last century, we have seen significant moments at which women's rights have been fairly well respected, especially in cities. In the rural areas, it's a bit of a different story, but in cities there has been a precedent of very strong women's rights, and very strong economic and political participation for women.
I don't believe I need to explain the situation for women under the Taliban. From 2001 to 2005, there was a heyday in Afghanistan in which it surged back up from the great depths it had fallen to under the Taliban. There was tremendous hope. Women were coming out of the woodwork. There were more civil society activists. There were more people who wanted to go back into teaching. There were human rights lawyers, for lack of a better term. There was far more engagement. Women wanted to join the police, but because of the rule of law problems, which we described earlier in this session, women began to get hurt, so they would go to the police to seek support. They would try to join the police themselves. They would try to become women leaders within Parliament, and they would be threatened. They would be killed. The number of assassinations for women leaders in Afghanistan is appalling.
What we found was that because the basic rule of law wasn't in place, this heyday at about 2005 started to dwindle, and women started to pull back into the woodwork. So since 2001 we've seen a surge and a decline. It's now at a stage where I think there's a mini-surge again. This surge, though, is probably due more to the fact that women know that we're at a critical crossroads than the fact that, for example, we're giving them all the support and resources they need. I think that explains why a record number of women participated in the election this year: 406 women participated in the election, despite rampant threats on their lives, their children's lives. They put themselves way out there because they know that this is possibly one of the last opportunities they will have.