The Taliban has refused to allow female students to leave the Afghan capital to go to study in Kazakhstan and Qatar. The Taliban may have suggested that they will be taking a more liberal approach towards women’s rights after coming to power a year back. However, recent reports are showing that not much has changed in this regime.
Both female and male students were planning to leave Kabul
Both female and male students were planning to leave Kabul, but only male students were permitted to fly out of Afghanistan for studies, the sources said on Friday.
This is the latest assault on women’s right to education in Afghanistan after a number of reforms brought in by the Taliban in recent years. The Taliban has banned Afghan women from working outside their homes and has introduced gender-based segregation in schools. Girls are not allowed to receive education beyond sixth grade.
Moreover, the Taliban has forced all women to cover their faces while in public, and women are not allowed to participate in entertainment activities and visit parks at the same time as men.
80 percent of women have lost their jobs: Official data
According to official data, around 80 percent of women have lost their jobs in the media sector and when it comes to government jobs, the authorities are replacing them with their male relatives.
Moreover, the Taliban dismantled the system to respond to gender-based violence, created new barriers to women accessing health care, blocked women’s aid workers from doing their jobs, and attacked women’s rights protesters. Since they took control of the country in August 2021, the Taliban have violated women’s and girls’ rights to education, work, and free movement and decimated the system of protection and support for those fleeing domestic violence.
In the recent past, the country has also seen the return of strict rules for women like covering themselves completely and traveling with a male companion at all times.