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Afghan women outraged by new Taliban restrictions on work
Issued on: 20/09/2021 -
Afghan women demand their rights under Taliban rule
As female employees in Kabul were reportedly told to stay home, some staged a protest against the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban government.
Women have repeatedly protested against the Taliban since the Islamist militants returned to power
Several Afghan women gathered in Kabul on Sunday to demand the right to work and study under the new Taliban-run government.
Since the Taliban's return to power after a two-decade war, the fundamentalist militants have issued restrictive rules on girls' education and women's participation in public life.
Over a dozen women protested outside the premises of what used to be the Afghan Women's Affairs Ministry — until the Taliban turned it into the department for the "propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice."
"A society in which women are not active is [a] dead society," one sign read as protesters chanted, "women's rights and human rights."
Women gathered in front of the former Women's Affairs Ministry, two days after the Taliban replaced the ministry's banner
Female employees ordered to stay home
According to the Associated Press news agency, the Taliban's interim Kabul Mayor Hamdullah Namony said on Sunday that female employees have been ordered to stay home, pending a further decision.
Namony said exceptions were made for women who could not be replaced by men. "There are some areas that men can't do it. We have to ask our female staff to fulfill their duties. There is no alternative for it,'' he was quoted as saying by the AP.
Women in several areas across Afghanistan have been told to stay home from both public and private sector jobs. But the Taliban have not yet announced a uniform policy towards women's work.
Issued on: 20/09/2021 -
About a dozen Afghan women protested briefly Sunday outside the old Ministry for Women's Affairs, which has now been replaced by a department that earned notoriety for enforcing strict islamic doctrine
BULENT KILIC AFP
Kabul (AFP)
The Taliban's effective ban on women working sank in on Monday, sparking rage over the dramatic loss of rights after millions of female teachers and girls were barred from secondary school education.
After pledging a softer version of their brutal and repressive regime of the 1990s, the Islamic fundamentalists are tightening their control of women's freedoms one month after seizing power.
"I may as well be dead," said one woman, who was sacked from her senior role at the ministry of foreign affairs.
"I was in charge of a whole department and there were many women working with me... now we have all lost our jobs," she told AFP, insisting she not be identified for fear of reprisals.
The acting mayor of the capital Kabul has said any municipal jobs currently held by women would be filled by men.
Kabul (AFP)
The Taliban's effective ban on women working sank in on Monday, sparking rage over the dramatic loss of rights after millions of female teachers and girls were barred from secondary school education.
After pledging a softer version of their brutal and repressive regime of the 1990s, the Islamic fundamentalists are tightening their control of women's freedoms one month after seizing power.
"I may as well be dead," said one woman, who was sacked from her senior role at the ministry of foreign affairs.
"I was in charge of a whole department and there were many women working with me... now we have all lost our jobs," she told AFP, insisting she not be identified for fear of reprisals.
The acting mayor of the capital Kabul has said any municipal jobs currently held by women would be filled by men.
The Taliban on Friday appeared to shut down the former government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with one that earned notoriety during their first stint in power for enforcing religious doctrine
Hoshang Hashimi AFP
That came after the education ministry ordered male teachers and students back to secondary school at the weekend, but made no mention of the country's millions of women educators and girl pupils.
The Taliban on Friday also appeared to shut down the former government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with one that earned notoriety during their first stint in power for enforcing religious doctrine.
While the country's new rulers have not issues a formal policy outright banning women from working, directives by individual officials have amounted to their exclusion from the workplace.
Many Afghan women fear they will never find meaningful employment.
- 'When will that be?' -
A new Taliban government announced two weeks ago had no women members.
Although still marginalised, Afghan women have fought for and gained basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming lawmakers, judges, pilots and police officers, though mostly limited to large cities.
Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce -- a necessity in some cases as many women were widowed or now support invalid husbands as a result of two decades of conflict.
That came after the education ministry ordered male teachers and students back to secondary school at the weekend, but made no mention of the country's millions of women educators and girl pupils.
The Taliban on Friday also appeared to shut down the former government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with one that earned notoriety during their first stint in power for enforcing religious doctrine.
While the country's new rulers have not issues a formal policy outright banning women from working, directives by individual officials have amounted to their exclusion from the workplace.
Many Afghan women fear they will never find meaningful employment.
- 'When will that be?' -
A new Taliban government announced two weeks ago had no women members.
Although still marginalised, Afghan women have fought for and gained basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming lawmakers, judges, pilots and police officers, though mostly limited to large cities.
Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce -- a necessity in some cases as many women were widowed or now support invalid husbands as a result of two decades of conflict.
While the country's new rulers have not issues a formal policy outright banning women from working, directives by individual officials have amounted to their exclusion from the workplace
BULENT KILIC AFP
But since returning to power on August 15, the Taliban have shown no inclination to honour those rights.
When pressed, Taliban officials say women have been told to stay at home for their own security but will be allowed to work once proper segregation can be implemented.
"When will that be?" a woman teacher said Monday.
"This happened last time. They kept saying they would allow us to return to work, but it never happened."
During the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, women were largely excluded from public life including being banned from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.
In Kabul on Friday, a sign for the ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice was erected at the building housing the old government's ministry for women's affairs building in the capital.
Vice ministry enforcers were notorious for punishing anyone deemed not to be following the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam.
But since returning to power on August 15, the Taliban have shown no inclination to honour those rights.
When pressed, Taliban officials say women have been told to stay at home for their own security but will be allowed to work once proper segregation can be implemented.
"When will that be?" a woman teacher said Monday.
"This happened last time. They kept saying they would allow us to return to work, but it never happened."
During the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, women were largely excluded from public life including being banned from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.
In Kabul on Friday, a sign for the ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice was erected at the building housing the old government's ministry for women's affairs building in the capital.
Vice ministry enforcers were notorious for punishing anyone deemed not to be following the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam.
During the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, women were largely excluded from public life including being banned from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative
Hoshang Hashimi AFP
On Sunday around a dozen women protested briefly outside the building, but dispersed when approached by Taliban officials.
No official from the new regime responded Monday to requests for comment.
In Herat, an education official insisted the issue of girls and women teachers returning to school was a question of time, not policy.
"It is not exactly clear when that will happen: tomorrow, next week, next month, we don't know," Shahabudin Saqib told AFP.
"It's not my decision because we have had a big revolution in Afghanistan."
The United Nations said it was "deeply worried" for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.
"It is critical that all girls, including older girls, are able to resume their education without any further delays," the UN's children's agency UNICEF said.
On Sunday around a dozen women protested briefly outside the building, but dispersed when approached by Taliban officials.
No official from the new regime responded Monday to requests for comment.
In Herat, an education official insisted the issue of girls and women teachers returning to school was a question of time, not policy.
"It is not exactly clear when that will happen: tomorrow, next week, next month, we don't know," Shahabudin Saqib told AFP.
"It's not my decision because we have had a big revolution in Afghanistan."
The United Nations said it was "deeply worried" for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.
"It is critical that all girls, including older girls, are able to resume their education without any further delays," the UN's children's agency UNICEF said.
As female employees in Kabul were reportedly told to stay home, some staged a protest against the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban government.
Women have repeatedly protested against the Taliban since the Islamist militants returned to power
Several Afghan women gathered in Kabul on Sunday to demand the right to work and study under the new Taliban-run government.
Since the Taliban's return to power after a two-decade war, the fundamentalist militants have issued restrictive rules on girls' education and women's participation in public life.
Over a dozen women protested outside the premises of what used to be the Afghan Women's Affairs Ministry — until the Taliban turned it into the department for the "propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice."
"A society in which women are not active is [a] dead society," one sign read as protesters chanted, "women's rights and human rights."
Women gathered in front of the former Women's Affairs Ministry, two days after the Taliban replaced the ministry's banner
Female employees ordered to stay home
According to the Associated Press news agency, the Taliban's interim Kabul Mayor Hamdullah Namony said on Sunday that female employees have been ordered to stay home, pending a further decision.
Namony said exceptions were made for women who could not be replaced by men. "There are some areas that men can't do it. We have to ask our female staff to fulfill their duties. There is no alternative for it,'' he was quoted as saying by the AP.
Women in several areas across Afghanistan have been told to stay home from both public and private sector jobs. But the Taliban have not yet announced a uniform policy towards women's work.
Watch video 01:35 Taliban impose new rules on women in Afghanistan
What is the Taliban's stance on women's rights?
During the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Islamist militants enforced hard-line policies toward women, including publicly beating those who dared to venture outside without covering their entire bodies.
After the Taliban seized power last month, they tried to strike a conciliatory tone, vowing to uphold human rights and respect women's rights "within the limits of Islam."
So far, they have forbidden girls from attending secondary school and instructed universities to segregate classes by gender. The Taliban also named a new Afghan Cabinet with no women in ministerial positions.
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets to protest these restrictions over the past month. Their demonstrations have mostly been met by force from Taliban fighters.
What is the Taliban's stance on women's rights?
During the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, the Islamist militants enforced hard-line policies toward women, including publicly beating those who dared to venture outside without covering their entire bodies.
After the Taliban seized power last month, they tried to strike a conciliatory tone, vowing to uphold human rights and respect women's rights "within the limits of Islam."
So far, they have forbidden girls from attending secondary school and instructed universities to segregate classes by gender. The Taliban also named a new Afghan Cabinet with no women in ministerial positions.
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets to protest these restrictions over the past month. Their demonstrations have mostly been met by force from Taliban fighters.
By Hira Humayun and Helen Regan, CNN
Female employees in the Kabul city government have been told to stay home, and only women whose jobs cannot be done by men are allowed to come to work -- the latest restrictions imposed by the Taliban in Afghanistan.
© BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Afghan women converse with a Taliban fighter while they hold placards during a demonstration demanding better rights for women in front of the former Ministry of Women Affairs in Kabul on September 19.
The order, announced by Kabul's acting Mayor Hamdullah Nohmani on Sunday, effectively means women are now barred from government work in the Afghan capital. One of the only jobs women can do for the Kabul government is clean female bathrooms, according to the announcement.
The order leaves hundreds of women out of work. Nohmani said there are 2,930 people working for the municipality -- 27% of whom are women.
Fear is mounting for women and girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country last month. Despite repeated assurances to respect women's rights, the order on female government employees is the latest sign the freedoms of the last 20 years are coming to an end.
Since the takeover, women have been ordered to leave their workplaces in some areas, restrictions on girls' and women's education have been introduced, and women have been completely excluded from the country's hardline new government.
When the Taliban were last in power between 1996 and 2001, the militant group banned women and girls from education and work, stopped them from leaving the home unaccompanied, and forced them to cover their entire bodies.
"Initially we allowed all of them to be present at their duties on time, but then the Islamic Emirate decided it was necessary that for some time their work must stop," Nohmani said, using the official name for the Taliban. "Then we only allowed those females whom we needed, I mean for jobs which males couldn't do, or which is not a man's job ... For example, there are public female toilets in bazaars."
He added their work will now be done by men, and "until the situation comes to a normal state, we have asked them to stay at home."
His remarks come the same day women's rights activists demanded education for girls and women's participation in government in protests on Sunday.
The women marched outside a building in Kabul that once hosted the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs. That building is now home to the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice under the Taliban, according to a new sign posted outside and seen by a CNN team on the ground on Friday.
The Sunday march was organized by the Movement for Change Party, a women's civil society movement led by Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan lawmaker, peace negotiator and women rights activist.
"The Taliban during and before the negotiations said in their statements that women have right to work and study according to Islamic law, but today what is going on in Afghanistan is against the promises Taliban made and against Islamic values," Koofi said via web conference from outside Afghanistan. "How you are banning a generation from reading and writing, it is not a social matter that group of humans are banned from study, life and freedom."
The protest came after the Taliban announced further restrictions on women and girls. A week ago, the Afghan Finance Ministry, now under Taliban control, issued a notice ordering its female employees not to return to work "until suitable work environment is arranged."
And on Friday, the Ministry of Education ordered male secondary school students and teachers to report to their schools on Saturday. The announcement did not mention female students, sowing fears that girls would once again be excluded from secondary education.
But the Taliban denied claims Afghan women would be banned from secondary schools, claiming they needed to set up a "secure transportation system" for female students before allowing them back into classrooms.
Speaking to CNN on Saturday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said women will be allowed to study. "There are certain rules during their class time that must be obeyed that they could be safe and sound," he said.
Mujahid reiterated previous statements from the Taliban saying, "We are committed on women's rights" according to the group's interpretation of Sharia law.
However, the activist Koofi said the Taliban's actions so far indicate it "still does not believe in the rights of women" and pleaded with the international community and UN to pressure the Taliban to back track from its hardline decision.
"Today we hear that girls are not allowed to get education, the offices' doors are shut in their face, there are no woman representative in the political leadership," she said. "They should know that only by the respect and participation of women, they can live in peace and in this world."
The order, announced by Kabul's acting Mayor Hamdullah Nohmani on Sunday, effectively means women are now barred from government work in the Afghan capital. One of the only jobs women can do for the Kabul government is clean female bathrooms, according to the announcement.
The order leaves hundreds of women out of work. Nohmani said there are 2,930 people working for the municipality -- 27% of whom are women.
Fear is mounting for women and girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban seized control of the country last month. Despite repeated assurances to respect women's rights, the order on female government employees is the latest sign the freedoms of the last 20 years are coming to an end.
Since the takeover, women have been ordered to leave their workplaces in some areas, restrictions on girls' and women's education have been introduced, and women have been completely excluded from the country's hardline new government.
When the Taliban were last in power between 1996 and 2001, the militant group banned women and girls from education and work, stopped them from leaving the home unaccompanied, and forced them to cover their entire bodies.
"Initially we allowed all of them to be present at their duties on time, but then the Islamic Emirate decided it was necessary that for some time their work must stop," Nohmani said, using the official name for the Taliban. "Then we only allowed those females whom we needed, I mean for jobs which males couldn't do, or which is not a man's job ... For example, there are public female toilets in bazaars."
He added their work will now be done by men, and "until the situation comes to a normal state, we have asked them to stay at home."
His remarks come the same day women's rights activists demanded education for girls and women's participation in government in protests on Sunday.
The women marched outside a building in Kabul that once hosted the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs. That building is now home to the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice under the Taliban, according to a new sign posted outside and seen by a CNN team on the ground on Friday.
The Sunday march was organized by the Movement for Change Party, a women's civil society movement led by Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan lawmaker, peace negotiator and women rights activist.
"The Taliban during and before the negotiations said in their statements that women have right to work and study according to Islamic law, but today what is going on in Afghanistan is against the promises Taliban made and against Islamic values," Koofi said via web conference from outside Afghanistan. "How you are banning a generation from reading and writing, it is not a social matter that group of humans are banned from study, life and freedom."
The protest came after the Taliban announced further restrictions on women and girls. A week ago, the Afghan Finance Ministry, now under Taliban control, issued a notice ordering its female employees not to return to work "until suitable work environment is arranged."
And on Friday, the Ministry of Education ordered male secondary school students and teachers to report to their schools on Saturday. The announcement did not mention female students, sowing fears that girls would once again be excluded from secondary education.
But the Taliban denied claims Afghan women would be banned from secondary schools, claiming they needed to set up a "secure transportation system" for female students before allowing them back into classrooms.
Speaking to CNN on Saturday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said women will be allowed to study. "There are certain rules during their class time that must be obeyed that they could be safe and sound," he said.
Mujahid reiterated previous statements from the Taliban saying, "We are committed on women's rights" according to the group's interpretation of Sharia law.
However, the activist Koofi said the Taliban's actions so far indicate it "still does not believe in the rights of women" and pleaded with the international community and UN to pressure the Taliban to back track from its hardline decision.
"Today we hear that girls are not allowed to get education, the offices' doors are shut in their face, there are no woman representative in the political leadership," she said. "They should know that only by the respect and participation of women, they can live in peace and in this world."
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