6 family requires restructuring power relations, especially economic-financial relations inside Afghan families and the market place. Afghan women’s role in the market place is extremely limited, although women’s role has improved in government and non-government institutions. Political quotas, gender mainstreaming, media and civil society have provided opportunities for an improved absorption of women into the public and private sectors. These institutions have empowered women, marking a slight change in unequal productive-economic relations, however, men’s domination over these structures means that women in the workforce continue to be subject to potential abuse and ill-treatment, including sexual harassment. To a certain extent, some Afghans view women who work outside family environment with suspicion. Even some women themselves can hold equally cynical views about their peers working in public sphere. AHRDO’s field research shows that such deep-seated suspicions and misperceptions often result in significant social costs for women in their families, neighborhoods and communities. It limits women’s role in public and their access to resources. An area characterized by persistent harassment is the public space. Street harassment has turned into a big challenge in the daily life of the Afghan woman. Afghan men of varied age and from different religious, social and economic backgrounds engage in abusive practices in public. These practices are most common in Kabul but are spreading to other major cities. Strict social segregation in schools, little communication between the two genders, and ambiguity and poor rule of law have allowed this social problem to fester. Having become so normalized, such abusive practices no longer receive serious public rebuke and reprimand, and are becoming accepted as just another challenge in the daily lives of Afghan women. A persistent public presence of women will reduce the problem of public harassment. The creation of appropriate public space and a redefining of gender relations would also counter harassment. Afghan men must revise their view that interaction between boys and girls and men and women will lead to physical, and thus illegal, relationships. More importantly, redefinition of gender relations is required in the family and at secondary education levels. To tackle a highly gendered environment, Afghans must gradually move towards adopting a co-educational secondary school system, at least, in urban centers. This should take place in a culturally sensitive way to mitigate potential harms on girls’ attendance to educational institutions. There are variations across the regions in this respect with Nangarhar featuring as more conservative while Kabul and Bamyan are more open. Women’s role in the initiation and administration of small business initiatives must improve. Restaurants, grocery shops, shopping malls, vegetable stalls, clothing shops and the like have the potential to constitute the bulk of women’s economic engagement. Women have slowly penetrated this area but they need to increase their roles in this sector. This can help