It’s very heartbreaking that on the eve of International Women’s Day (Monday) when the world women were marching for their rights, the Afghan women were continued to bar from universities which reopened after a winter break. Only male students were allowed to be back to classes, It is very unfortunate that the world has been unable to press the Taliban authorities to lift the ban on women in higher education which has been in force for the last one and half year.

The ban on women’s universities is just one of many restrictions on women since the fall of Kabul to Taliban in 2021. In fact, women’s rights have been totally usurped in this war-ravaged country as their participation in social life has been totally erased.

It is very painful that Taliban are not ready to budge an inch from their anti-women steps which have deprived women of their due rights. Rather with the passage of time, they impose even harsher steps to confine them to homes.

It can rightly be termed as ‘gender-based apartheid’.

Banning of higher education for Afghan women

Despite a strong backlash from the global community including the Muslim world, the Taliban government in Afghanistan is hell-bent on barring women from education in one way or the other. There latest move to bar women from higher education is a case in point. In their earlier steps, they had segregated the female education but in the latest step they have declared higher education a forbidden tree for women, which is against the teaching of Islam. That’s the Muslim countries mainly the Saudi Arab, Turkey, Qatar and majority of rest of the Muslim states have strongly lamented the Taliban Govt for their steps against female education.

This latest together with the earlier Taliban policies frame to segregate women from public life are going to have strong consequences for the Taliban government as the world community including the Muslim world are not accept  the Taliban stance on women’s issues.

 With the passage of time, the living conditions further deteriorate for Afghan women under the Taliban regime, who have been resorting to preventing women from being a part of public life and segregating them on almost every front.

Recently, they fired pepper spray at a group of women protesting in Kabul, demanding for provision of fundamental rights like work and education. In November, bodies of four female rights activists were found in controversial circumstances in the PD-1 of Afghanistan’s Mazar-e-Sharif province.

This year in mid-January, former female parliamentarian Mursal Nabizada, was shot dead in her home, 

Earlier, a Women’s rights activist Frozan Safi was shot dead in northern Afghanistan in November 2021, just three months after the Taliban came into power. She went missing and then her body was found a month later. Women who protest demand for their rights are subjected to whips and sticks.

Since the fall of Kabul to Taliban in August 2021, Afghan women are bearing the brunt of the situation. Every day new stories of Afghan women’s rights violations circulate on social media, making one wonder as to what the Taliban are up to.

In one such latest example of extreme human rights violation, they have barred women from entering amusement parks in Afghan Capital Kabul last year. The Taliban’s morality ministry stated in a statement that they have restricted women from visiting public parks, so there is no question of women being accessing the public parks.

Earlier, they had segregated women’s entry into public places by specifying some days for women to visit such places on particular days, but with latest statements things seems to be further aggravating for women. There seems to be no light at the end of tunnel for Afghan women, who are being subjected to discriminatory rules under the Taliban regime. It ought to be mentioned with concern that in the Taliban’s first news conference after taking over Afghanistan on August 15, in 2021, the group spokesman had promised to allow women to work and study,” as it tried to allay fears of its rule between 1996-2001 that was marked by restrictions on women’s rights.

But now they  have failed to keep up their promises and instead the group is following its 20 years old rules when it comes to women’s rights. Future seems to be very bleak for Afghan women as the world has miserably failed to press Taliban on women’s issue. To be very specific, professions like sports, politics and educations have been declared forbidden branches for women. he female teachers are also bearing the brunt of the situation. More than 100,000 female teachers were deprived of their jobs.  According to UNICEF estimates, around one-third of Afghan teachers were women, and a further 150,000 were employed in other sections of the education sector at the time of Taliban taking over of the country, but their future is uncertain under Taliban rule. Though Taliban had claimed to be respecting women’s rights when they took over Kabul, but in reality that is not the case. Only recently, women were subjected to violence when they staged a peaceful protest in Kabul. They were protesting against non-inclusion of women in the interim government and took to roads, but they were subjected to use of whips and sticks by Taliban fighters.

To conclude, one would agree with UN chief Antonio Guterres, who on Women’s Day warned in clear terms that  “Women’s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world,” he added, pointing to Afghanistan, where “women and girls have been erased from public life”.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 11 2023

Like Business on Facebook, follow @DailyNCourier on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.