Tears and outrage as Afghan Taliban close women universities
Wednesday, Kabul women protested the ruling. Taliban officials promptly put an end...
Afghan Taliban bans women from working for NGOs
After the Afghan Taliban forbade women from working for non-governmental organizations, the Taliban severely restricted women’s freedoms in Afghanistan (NGOs).
The Islamist authorities claimed that female NGO workers were disobeying Sharia law by not donning the headscarf.
The most recent restriction on their ability to pursue higher education since the Taliban retook power came days prior.
Women who were barred from going to work described their anxiety and powerlessness to the Media.
One said she was the main earner in her household, and asked: “If I cannot go to my job, who can support my family?”
Another breadwinner insisted that she had complied with the Taliban’s strict female dress code. “This news is shocking,” she said. “I am confused what will happen to my life.”
A third woman questioned the Taliban’s “Islamic morals”, saying she would now struggle to pay her bills and feed her children.
“The world is watching us and doing nothing,” said another female interviewee. Media is not publishing the women’s names in order to protect them.
The Ministry of Economy wrote a letter to both domestic and foreign NGOs informing them of the directive that was issued on Saturday. According to a Taliban spokesman, the decision was valid until further notice.
It was not immediately obvious, though, if this would impact UN organizations, which are widely dispersed throughout the nation and actively engaged in relief and development efforts.
Any organization that did not immediately comply was threatened with having their license cancelled in the letter.
Afghan women may not be able to directly receive aid if NGOs are now only permitted to hire men. Men cannot collaborate with women because of separate rules.
It is thought that in a nation where foreign assistance for healthcare has now dried up, this could intensify pervasive problems like infant mortality.
The South Asian branch of Amnesty International described the ban as “yet another deplorable attempt to erase women from the political, social and economic spaces” of Afghanistan.
One imam – whose identity is again being protected by the Media- said the Taliban was “not committed to any Islamic value”.
He explained: “Islam has not said that men can educate and women cannot. Or men can work and women cannot. We are confused about this decision.”
Similar criticism was directed earlier this week at a prohibition on women enrolling in Afghan universities. Protests were started, including one on Saturday in Herat, but they were quickly put down.
Despite vowing that their administration would be more tolerant than the one in the 1990s, the Taliban has systematically weakened women’s rights since regaining control of the nation last year.
In most provinces, secondary schools for girls are still closed. In addition, women have been denied access to parks and gyms, among other public spaces.
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