Enemies of Happiness closes with Ms. Joya’s victory, but reveals the complexities inherent in that victory. In the final two scenes of the film, we see Ms. Joya verbally sparring with her more conservative parliamentary colleagues. We also see President Karzai’s emotionally charged, sentimental speech to open the first parliamentary session in Afghanistan in nearly thirty years. In so doing, the film engages the tension between the hope inherent in securing a leadership position in an emerging democracy, and the continued challenges and setbacks women leaders face upon entering office.

Malalai Joya addressing an audience at the Arch Street Friends Meeting House in Philadelphia

On Wednesday March 30, Ms. Joya made two stops in Philadelphia as part of her U.S. speaking tour. At one of these events, I asked Ms. Joya about the ending of Enemies of Happiness, specifically what it suggested about her ability, or any woman’s ability to be effective in Afghan Parliament. She answered: “I wish the film didn’t end the way it did.” She said that ending with the Karzai speech left the viewer feeling that goals were accomplished and change easily made.

Instead, she wished the film showed her ongoing struggles after victory—the threats made against her by her colleagues, the times they turned off her microphone when she stood up to speak, the times she was thwarted in enacting her ideas. Ideas, she points out, that are as natural as asking that Afghan people be supported in accessing the most imperative of needs: education.

Women’s struggles do not end the minute they enter political office. Once there, they are faced with a number of hostilities as their presence, unfortunately, represents a threat to the old order. Ms. Joya, however, handles these pressures not only with dignity, but also with the hard skills needed of political leaders, including knowledge of the political system, a well-communicated platform, and strong negotiation skills.

In an excerpt from her recently published book, A Woman Among Warlords, Joya makes her determination clear, paralleling her fight with that of another brave Afghan woman who struggled against injustice in the early twentieth century, Sarwar Joya, from whom Malalai takes her alias. Malalai states:

“I know that because I refuse to compromise my opposition to the warlords and fundamentalists or soften my speeches denouncing them, I, too, may join [Sarwar] Joya on the long list of Afghans who have died for freedom. But you cannot compromise the truth. And I am not afraid of an early death if it would advance the cause of justice. Even the grave cannot silence my voice, because there are others who would carry on after me.”

As we collectively mourn the passing of Geraldine Ferraro, it is striking to remember that it was not long ago when here in the United States, women were not seen as viable political leaders. While women leaders in the U.S. have made great strides to move away from that perception, they are still working towards the goals of equal representation and equal decision-making power. What Ms. Joya helps us to remember is that each nation’s trajectory for women’s political participation will be distinct. It will take on the tenor of that particular nation’s history and culture, replete with unique challenges and opportunities. It will be an ever evolving, ongoing process. A process that benefits from the sharing of experiences and best practices of women leaders around the world.

A note from WCI: After conducting pre-election, campaign skills training for Afghan women in May of 2010, last week, Women’s Campaign International conducted a 5-day post election training for the 67 women parliamentarians in Afghanistan. Stay tuned for updates about these successful trainings.

In honor of the celebration, the White House unveiled their website for the Council on Women and Girls. Created on March 11 by President Obama, the Council’s aim is to “to ensure that each of the agencies in which they’re charged takes into account the needs of women and girls in the policies they draft, the programs they create, the legislation they support.”

The President also released a Proclamation today, declaring that, “the fight for women’s equality is not a woman’s agenda, but an American agenda…We stand at a moment of unparalleled change and a time for reflection and hope. We cannot allow the vibrant energy and passionate commitment of our trailblazing women to fade, and we can never forget the responsibility we bear to the ideals of liberty and equality for all. Each generation of successful women serves as a catalyst to empower, enlighten, and educate the next generation of girls and boys, and we must devote ourselves to promoting this catalyst for change now and in the future.”

WCI celebrates the work of the generations of women who have laid the strong foundation for women’s rights and we continue to support efforts to ensure women’s equality is a universal right.