Continuing their advance in Afghanistan, Taliban officials announced that they had captured Kabul exactly one year ago. As the world watched the advance of the Taliban on Sunday, August 15, 2020, almost no one expected that Kabul would fall in such a short time. With the fall of Kabul, there was an atmosphere of chaos in the country, and the images of people fleeing the airport to leave the country were engraved in the memories. In the first days after the Taliban took control, he gave the message that they are not like 20 years ago, they are now more moderate.
However, it is possible to say that the statements made in the intervening year and the actions do not match each other. Afghan women are faced with losing the rights they have gained in 20 years, together with the economic crisis, drought and the Taliban administration. How was a year of Beijing Afghan women?
Since the Taliban came to power, they have issued dozens of bans and decrees limiting the freedom of women. It removed women from the upper echelons of government and banned female students from attending secondary education. In some areas, women can no longer obtain a driver’s license or travel long distances without male family members. Some public parks are gender-segregated, with taxi drivers not allowed to pick up women who don’t wear headscarves. Also, women are required to wear the burqa in public.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was closed in September 2021 and was replaced by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Immorality. The cabinet is all men.
AFGAN GIRLS ARE TWICE AS LIKELY TO GO HANGING TO BED THAN MEN
According to the latest report from Save the Children, Afghanistan97 percent of families have difficulties due to the economic crisis in Turkey. According to the report, girls eat less than boys.
According to the report, girls are twice as likely as boys to go to bed hungry; 9 out of 10 girls said their food had decreased compared to last year. The girls also expressed that they are worried about losing weight and that they do not have the energy to study and play.
MORE THAN 45 PERCENT OF GIRLS CAN’T GO TO SCHOOL
After the Taliban seized power, hundreds of thousands of girls and young women were excluded from education. Currently, girls above the 6th grade cannot go to school in the country.
Taliban officials have stated many times that they are preparing for girls to go to school. It was even announced earlier this year that all students, including girls, could return to school, but the girls were sent home the same day. It was stated that the dress code could not be regulated and education for girls above grade 6 was suspended indefinitely.
According to Save the Children, more than 45 percent of girls are out of school. A small minority of girls attend private schools online, but many families do not have the technology or financial means to support the additional tuition and expenses.
According to the Guardian, if the ban on girls continues, there will be no new female students in universities.
26 percent of AFGAN GIRLS SHOW SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION
Reports show that Afghan women and girls have increased mental health problems. According to the Save the Children report, 26 percent of girls and 16 percent of boys in Afghanistan show symptoms of depression.
WOMEN LOSE THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL PROTEST
Police have stopped protests by women activists in Kabul and other cities since the Taliban came to power.
According to Amnesty International, women who wanted to protest peacefully were threatened, arrested, detained, tortured physically and psychologically.
WOMEN’S FREEDOM TO TRAVEL RESTRICTED
Women were forbidden to travel long distances without a male relative with them.
With this ban, about 10 percent of women have been restricted from going to a health facility alone.
In May 2022, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Immorality advised all women to wear burqas or cover their faces in public and warned them not to leave the house at all.
WOMEN’S RIGHT TO WORK WAS DENIED
Taliban officials announced that women would be allowed to continue working, but that the salaries of female public servants in Kabul would be reduced. Recently, female employees were asked to find a male relative/acquaintance to replace them.
The female employment rate in Afghanistan had reached about 22 percent before the pandemic, but hundreds of thousands of women lost their jobs as the Taliban came to power.
“WOMEN ARE NOT VISIBLE”
While the Taliban is leaving a year behind, Women for Afghan Women Director Najia Nasim, who works in Afghanistan and the USA, made special evaluations on the subject to Haberturk.com.
Women for Afghan Women is a nonprofit working for women and children. Stating that things have changed since August 15, Najia said that they can no longer support women in Afghanistan, they can only work for children.
Stating that the functioning of many organizations changed with the fall of Kabul, Najia said that their work in Afghanistan was limited and their work focused mostly on Afghan immigrants in the USA.
“How did women’s rights change in the country with the arrival of the Taliban?” Answering the question, Najia said, “The Taliban made promises that there would be no radical changes in the first days when they came to power. However, there is a huge restriction on women’s rights. The number one problem is education. Many schools are closed, girls are not allowed to go to school from the 6th grade, and this is the case every time. “The date is being postponed. There is no satisfactory reason for this. The restriction that girls experience in education is very worrying. Job opportunities for women are very limited. The unemployment rate in the country is increasing and unfortunately women are affected much more by this. The shortage of women is high, but women are not visible.”
Najia said that a girl who went to school a year ago cannot go to school, and a working woman cannot work now. It is necessary and this is a huge crisis. It is very difficult to describe the feelings of Afghan women under these conditions.” she said.
“DEAD IN SLOW MOTION”
Women and girls have been stripped of their rights in Afghanistan, according to Amnesty International’s latest report, “Death in Slow Motion: Women and Girls under Taliban Rule.” Women who have been subjected to violence have no place to take shelter, and the number of forced marriages at an early age has increased.
The report said that because of the Taliban’s policies, millions of women and girls were denied the opportunity to lead a free life. It was stated that the international community should send a clear, coordinated and resonant message.
*The visuals of the news were served by the Associated Press.