GHAZNI CITY (SW) – The once bustling handicraft market by the Ghazni female entrepreneurs and artisans has been struggling to get its past luster back.
The situation of women artisans in Ghazni has been worrying in the past two years as these women do not have the sales and orders they had a few years ago.
Gul Chaman Rahimi is an entrepreneur lady in Ghazni who told the story about the sluggishness of her work and productions. Ms. Rahimi told Salam Watandar that the income of businesswomen and artisans has decreased dramatically and there is no market for selling women’s handicrafts in Ghazni anymore.
She said: “In the handicraft sector, where I work with women, the work situation for women is very bad. One item they produce and when they bring it to the market, the prices are very low. It doesn’t earn the ladies anything, the shopkeepers buy very cheaply. There are no customers, no marketing and it is a bad situation.”
This industrialist lady wants to establish a “special market for women” in Ghazni and demands support of the de-facto government. She added: “They should do something to create a special market for women and do marketing. Women should stand on their own feet. It’s going to be so good.”
Adela is another lady in Ghazni who has been engaged in hand embroidery in this province for several years now. She also complained about the diminution of the market for her work and said that people prefer machine-embroidered clothes more than women’s handwork because of its low price.
Adele adds: “They don’t buy at all. In Ghazni, in general, women learn khamak dozi (handmade embroidery). They don’t have that much buying and selling going on at the moment. Most of the people buy from the markets and handicrafts market for women is no more existing.”
The women artisans in Ghazni want the support of the de-facto government of the Islamic Emirate and the cooperating institutions for the business women in this province and they say that women’s handicrafts are a good source of income for most families, and with the stagnation of this industry, families also lose their income.
Fawzia Gholami, another craftswoman in Ghazni, said: “We want the government to support women’s handicrafts like in the past and make suitable environment for the growth of women’s small businesses. Handicrafts in Ghazni are a good source of income for families and if the government and institutions support, thousands of families will earn good income through women’s handicrafts.”
In response to the problems raised by the women artisans in Ghazni, the officials in the Directorate of Commerce and Industry of the province mentioned the efforts to support these women and said that soon a large exhibition of handicrafts will be held in order to promote the work of women entrepreneurs in Ghazni province.
Ahmadullah Naser, the director of industrial parks of the directorate, told Salam Watandar: “On the 5th of Saratan (25 June) of the current year, a big exhibition will be held in Ghazni. God willing, we have big plans.”
In the past years, holding special exhibitions to showcase women’s handicrafts were seen as the basis for introducing and selling their products to merchants and customers, but since three years now, such an exhibition for women has not been held in Ghazni. The female entrepreneurs said they are looking forward for conducting of the upcoming exhibition in the province.
