Ever since Taliban’s accession to power, women’s freedom is being severely undermined in Afghanistan.
The United Nations published a report on Monday, January 22, stating the kind of prohibitions that are infringing on the fundamental rights of unmarried Afghan women.
According to UN, unmarried women or those without a male guardian are being denied access to education, work and healthcare. The report further stated that the Vice and Virtue Ministry asked a woman to get married in order to retain her employment as a health care official.
Debilitating Status of Women Under Taliban Rule
By barring women from going to beauty parlors, the militant group’s onslaught on the freedom of women has extended to the personal domain as well. Women are also required to abide by certain dress codes like wearing head-to-toe burqas, exposing only their eyes, noncompliance of which often ends in prosecution and arrests.
Most girls are not allowed to attain any formal education past the sixth grade.
Most women are not allowed to travel a certain distance without a mahram (male guardian). Officials reportedly carried out inspections at a bus terminal in December ensuring that no woman is travelling a significant distance without a mahram. In another incident, few women in the Paktia province were barred from accessing healthcare due to the absence of a mahram.
The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has made note of hundreds of women who have lost jobs in wake of the oppressive laws imposed by the militant organization. The report also stated how multiple women were forced to discontinue working at a pine-nut processing plant in October, resulting in over 400 women losing their jobs.
Similarly, in Balkh province of Afghanistan, a Taliban-run power plant laid off 200 women due to financial reasons even though the male employees were allowed to continued working without facing any consequences.
The Hazara community has also been facing considerable onslaught at the hands of the militant organization in recent years.
