Since the takeover by the Taliban, Afghan women have indeed lost their freedom and rights to major life necessities.
Research carried out by the Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose state university, (SJSU) showed that Afghan women had been stripped of their rights and basic human relatives.
According to research carried out in January 2022, the Taliban’s rights-violating policies imposed since it’s takeover in August last year has hampered women’s health, education, freedom of movement, and right to work.
Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, an SJSU faculty member, added, “They are caught between Taliban abuses and international community actions that push Afghans further into desperation every day.”
Here’s a list of rights Afghan women have lost:
- Women are required to wear full-coverage burqas.
The Taliban ordered Afghan women to wear the all-covering burqa in public on May 7, 2022.
The burqa, which covered the woman’s entire head and face between 1996 and 2001, was part of the group’s previous regime.
At a press conference in Kabul, Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue, stated, “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety.”
If a woman did not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative would be visited and imprisoned or fired from government jobs.
- Women are barred from long-distance travel and flights unless accompanied by a male chaperone.
Last December, the Taliban issued a directive requiring women to be accompanied by a “close male family member” when travelling more than 45 miles (72 kilometres). The Government also instructed drivers to refuse rides to women who did not wear head or face coverings.
In March of this year, women were subjected to additional travel restrictions when the Taliban informed Afghan airlines that women could not board domestic or international flights without a male chaperone.
- Women are barred from appearing in TV dramas.
Women were barred from appearing in television dramas and films beginning in November 2021.
The decree was part of an eight-point plan that included the prohibition of films considered to be against Sharia or Islamic law and Afghan values, as well as comedy, shows that insult religion and foreign films promoting foreign cultural values.
- Female journalists and presenters have been instructed to wear headscarves.
IN NOVEMBER OF LAST YEAR, female TV presenters and journalists were also ordered to wear headscarves on-screen. Many people were outraged, including Zan TV, the first Afghan channel run entirely by female producers and reporters. Zan TV stated that the move to headscarves “threatened media freedom.”
- Girls are barred from attending school.
The Taliban decided not to allow girls over the age of 11 to return to school at the start of the Afghan school year in March. It stated that girls’ schools would remain closed until a “comprehensive” and “Islamic” plan was developed.
Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by Pakistan’s Tehrik-e-Taliban for advocating for girls’ education, called it a “devastating day.”
“I had one hope for today: that Afghan girls walking to school would not be sent back home,” Ms. Yousafzai tweeted at the time. “However, the Taliban leaders failed to keep their promise”.
- Women ‘should not’ work with men.
According to Reuters, women rapidly lose their jobs under the Taliban regime. The Taliban Leaders will only allow women to work subject to their interpretation of Islamic law, causing some to leave jobs out of fear of punishment by a group that severely limited their freedom the last time it ruled.
In September of last year, a senior Taliban member stated that women should not be allowed to work alongside men.
“We have fought for nearly 40 years to bring [Sharia law] to Afghanistan,” Waheedullah Hashimi told Reuters. “Sharia Law forbids men and women from meeting or sitting together under one roof. Men and women cannot collaborate. That is not correct”
- Women’s Affairs Ministry has been abolished.
The Women’s Affairs Ministry was closed in September 2021, shortly after the Taliban took over last year. The Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Ministry took over the ministry in 2001. Women’s Affairs Ministry has been abolished.
The Women’s Affairs Ministry was closed in September, shortly after the Taliban took over last year. The Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Ministry took over the ministry in 2001.
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