Masuma Esmati-Wardak
Masuma Esmati-Wardak was an Afghan writer and politician. She was jointly one of the first women to serve in the Afghan parliament and served as Minister of Education.
In 1953 she graduated from Kabul Women's College, and received a degree in business in the United States in 1958.
In 1964 King Mohammed Zahir Shah appointed her to an advisory committee that reviewed the draft 1964 constitution, which granted women the right to vote and stand for election. In 1965 she was elected to represent Kandahar in the House of the People of Parliament, and became a leading advocate of women's rights. She was the only one of the four women elected in 1965 to run for re-election in 1969, but lost her seat.
She married Abdul Qayum Wardak, a former minister of education and professor in the Science Faculty of Kabul University. In 1987 she became President of the Afghan Women's Council.
