Taliban taking away more female rights
Since the Taliban swept back to power in Afghanistan in August, they have been enforcing their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Despite trying to rebrand as further moderate, the group has assessed a slew of restrictions that revoke the liberties that Afghan women have won through a history of struggle and activism, and unravel the earnings made over the once two decades.
Following al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington, DC, the United States raided Afghanistan. The justifications for the war placed prominent attention on the Taliban's misogyny. According to the administration of the then United States. President George W. Bush, the war on terror in Afghanistan was" also a fight for women's rights and dignity. “That drew attention to the plight of Afghan women, which restated to transnational aid and backing for social programs and NGOs focused on bettering women's lives. This enabled women in urban areas, particularly in the capital, Kabul, to share in public life in ways that were insolvable under the Taliban regime.
But those changes failed to reach the countryside, where, according to data from the World Bank, about seventy per cent of Afghans live. In the two-decade war, villages across Afghanistan have been scenes of innumerous clashes between Taliban-aligned groups and NATO and national forces. Rural women constantly suffered night raids, airstrikes and displacement, without getting the chance to benefit from the expanded opportunities for their counterparts in the cities.
A United States report published in July quotes rural women who say the 2020 withdrawal agreement between the United States and Taliban has meant lower violence in their areas, Unique freedom of movement and reduced anxiety. The first restrictions that the Taliban introduced formerly they got back power substantially targeted urban and middle-class women. But they are expanding into a long list of rules, which will affect Afghanistan's entire female population.
Then are some of the restrictions that the Taliban have imposed on women so far
Long-distance travel
Afghan women have been banned from travelling further than seventy-two kilometres (45 miles) without a male relative since December 26. The Taliban Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice made it illegal for motorists to give rides to women travelling alone. A senior member of Human Rights Watch told the AFP news agency that the decree prevents women from" being able to depart if they're facing domestic violence."
Television and media
In November, the Taliban banned women from appearing on Television shows and big screen and ordered female reporters and presenters to wear headscarves. According to a report released by Journalists Without Borders (RSF) in August, utmost female employees of media organizations stopped working after the Taliban takeover.
Women's Affairs Ministry abolished
Established in 2001, the Women's Affairs Ministry was abolished by the Taliban in September. Its office now houses the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Ministry.
Education cut off
The Taliban has effectively prohibited girls from receiving education advanced than primary academy by keeping most secondary academies for teenage girls closed, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported in October. According to World Bank data, the proportion of girls in primary schools in Afghanistan increased from less than 10 per cent in 2003 to thirty-three per cent in 2017, while their share in secondary academies was thirty-nine per cent in 2017, over from six per cent in 2003.
Women banned from working
In early July, as the Taliban were seizing territory from government forces across Afghanistan, the group's fighters stormed into bank offices in the southern city of Kandahar and ordered women working there to leave. After taking full control of Afghanistan, the group continued to eliminate women from workplaces. In September, one of the Taliban's senior figures told the Reuters news agency that Afghan women shouldn't work alongside men. That statement was followed by another decree issued by the interim mayor ordering female employees of Kabul's city government to stay home.
Women accounted for twenty per cent of the country's workforce in 2020, according to a report released by the United Nation Development Program in December, and a growing number of them ran small businesses.
Dress code, segregation
In September, the Taliban's education minister blazoned that gender segregation and the Islamic dress code will be compulsory for universities. All-female scholars, educators and staff must wear an Islamic abaya robe and niqab that covers the hair, body and most of the face, according to the regulations issued by the Education Ministry. Afghan women have protested these restrictions multiple times, despite being assaulted with rifle butts, tear gas and essence clubs.
SOURCE
https://frontline.thehindu.com/dispatches/taliban-revoke-afghan-women-hard-won-rights/article38099838.ece