Assessing the impact of women’s underrepresentation on public service delivery in Afghanistan

In the wake of the political upheaval witnessed in Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a noticeable curtailment of women's involvement in the public sector. This quantitative cross-sectional study, grounded in representative bureaucracy theory, examines the perceived effects of this underrepresentation through a diverse and representative sample of 349 employees from various government departments. Employing a 21-item questionnaire with 5-point Likert scales, the survey assessed service accessibility, quality, responsiveness, accountability, and innovation dimensions. Snowball sampling was utilized due to access limitations post-August 2021, with a minimum one-year work experience as the inclusion criterion. Data analysis involved descriptive statistics, index creation for service dimensions, correlation analysis, and ANOVA to examine differences based on participant characteristics like grade, education, and age. The findings indicate that the lack of female representation significantly impairs service delivery across dimensions like accessibility, quality, innovation, and accountability, particularly concerning women. The study underscores the detrimental consequences of gender homogeneity on formulating gender-sensitive policies and maintaining inclusive, high-quality public services. These results emphasize the necessity of promoting gender diversity within the Afghan public sector to ensure responsive and equitable service delivery aligning with the needs of all societal segments.