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Tithi Pramanik
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| Picture Courtesy: UN Women |
The current situation of women in Afghanistan symbolises that even though the entire world is encouraging women's engagement outside their homes, Afghanistan lags far behind the 21st century. Lately, Afghanistan’s Khaama Press reported that the Taliban prohibited women from taking part in EID celebrations in two provinces named Baghlan and Takhar. The de facto authorities of the country recently issued a notification which ordered the women not to go out in groups during the festival of Eid-ul-fitr.
According to the same news agency, Taliban also forbade women from dining in such establishments which possess outdoor spaces and gardens. The authority stated that since women do not wear Hijab and interact with persons from opposite sex, they impose curbs on them. Afghanistan’s such behaviours lead to various challenges for instance food scarcity and financial issues as foreign governments reduce development funds and impose several sanctions. Despite getting castigations from the United Nations as well as foreign governments, Afghanistan imposed stringent restrictions on the movement of women in the country.
In the year 2002, Afghan women celebrated International Women’s Day as they came out of the clutches of Taliban and its year-long ruthless tyranny. That day was celebrated in Afghanistan as well as UN Headquarters with the ray of hope and the theme was ‘Afghan women today: Realities and Opportunities’. But, before 2002, Taliban refused to give Afghan women their fundamental rights and took away their freedom. Women were denied basic rights such as right to education, work, standards of living, mental and physical well being and freedom of movement.
However, after almost two decades, the women’s situation has deteriorated as the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021. The authority has snatched away women’s rights and totally excluded them from public office as well as the judiciary. They prohibit girls’ education beyond the sixth grade, travel more than 75 km without a mahram and work in NGO offices or other highly reputed jobs. Afghan women and girls are ordered to follow strict dress codes as well.
The international organisations should constantly support Afghan women in order to restore their rights to education and employment. They should reaffirm the women by taking concrete actions to strengthen their engagement in decision making and other national affairs.
