<
https://theconversation.com/how-womens-basic-rights-and-freedoms-are-being-eroded-all-over-the-world-243302>
"From Iraq to Afghanistan to the US, basic freedoms for women are being eroded
as governments start rolling back existing laws.
Just a few months ago a ban on Afghan women speaking in public was the latest
measure introduced by the Taliban, who took back control of the country in
2021. From August the ban included singing, reading aloud, reciting poetry and
even laughing outside their homes.
The Taliban’s ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of
vice, which implements one of the most radical interpretations of Islamic law,
enforces these rules. They are part of a broader set of “vice and virtue” laws
that severely restrict women’s rights and freedoms. Women are even banned from
reading the Quran out loud to other women in public.
In the past three years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken away many basic
rights from women who live there, so that there’s very little that they are
allowed to do.
From 2021, the Taliban started introducing restrictions on girls receiving
education, starting with a ban on coeducation and then a ban on girls
attending secondary schools. This was followed by closing blind girls’ schools
in 2023, and making it mandatory for girls in grades four to six (ages nine to
12) to cover their faces on the way to school.
Women can no longer attend universities or receive a degree certificate
nationally, or follow midwifery or nursing training in the Kandahar region.
Women are no longer allowed to be flight attendants, or to take a job outside
the home. Women-run bakeries in the capital Kabul have now been banned. Women
are mostly now unable to earn any money, or leave their homes. In April 2024,
the Taliban in Helmand province told media outlets to even refrain from airing
women’s voices.
Afghanistan is ranked last on the Women, Peace and Security Index and officials
at the UN and elsewhere have called it “gender apartheid”. Afghan women are
putting their lives on the line — facing surveillance, harassment, assault,
arbitrary detention, torture and exile — to protest against the Taliban.
Many diplomats discuss how important it is to “engage” with the Taliban, yet
this has not stopped the assault on women’s rights. When diplomats “engage”,
they tend to focus on counter-terrorism, counternarcotics, business deals, or
hostage returns. Despite everything that has happened to Afghan women over a
short period, critics suggest this rarely makes it onto diplomats’ priority
list."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
