Banning Women Work Intensifies Poverty/ Taliban Should Review their Decisions – Afghan Women

Rasool Shahzad – Kabul
Translated by Sayed Taher Mojab
DID Press: Protesting restrictions against their work in government, NGOs, and foreign institutions, Afghan women say that if the restrictions are not lifted, the economic status of their families and ultimately the economy of the country will suffer a deep crisis.

After closing schools for girls above the sixth grade, the Ta-liban banned women from studying at universities and working.

This action of the Taliban faced many reactions at the national and international levels. Many women, however, believe that if women are not allowed to work, the economic growth of the country will face a serious problem and cause widespread poverty across the country.
“Women can play a prominent role in poverty alleviation and economic growth of the country, but if the Taliban do not obey the demands of Afghan women and the world, it will lead to widespread poverty in the community,” Marwa Amiri, a student, told DID Press Agency.
“There are families whose only breadwinners are women. When they are banned from work, their families’ economy deteriorates,” she added.

Amiri urges the United Nations and other foreign organizations to be the voice of Afghan women and put pressure on the Taliban to obey the will of women, otherwise, it is up to the women of the country to fight for their rights in different ways.
About 1,260 non-governmental organizations were operating in Afghanistan, and thousands of their personnel in health, education, and relief programs were women. Following the restrictions, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children, and CARE International suspended their activities in Afghanistan.

Hamida Mazloomyar, a Kabul resident, told DID Press Agency that the economic growth of a country depends on both men and women, and if women are still not allowed to work, the country’s economy will undoubtedly suffer a more serious crisis.

“It is hard to even imagine that I will not be able to work after graduation. As a woman, I have studied with my own money, and if I am not allowed to work, my whole life is a waste,” she said.
Maleka Sadat, a student, told DID Press that if the Taliban’s edict on suspending women’s work is not lifted, poverty and unemployment will increase in society, causing social anomalies.
“We (women) hope that by the New Year (the new solar year 1402) the Taliban will open the school gates, allow women to go to universities and to work, otherwise we will stand up because our silence is equal to our devastation,” she added.

Meanwhile, university professor and economic expert Zahir Behzad, speaking to DID Press, said that the suspension of women’s work in non-governmental offices has led to three economic consequences.
According to him, the first consequence was that foreign institutions suspended their activities in Afghanistan in protest of the Taliban edict. The second consequence was that some foreign donors, who were funding social and construction projects in Afghanistan, decided to withhold aid to Afghanistan to put pressure on the Taliban, which damaged the Afghan economy. The third consequence is that some aid institutions and companies need female personnel because Afghan society is a traditional one. To identify poor families, female employees should work, but following the Taliban edict, the process of aiding the poor has completely stopped.

“With the ban on women’s work, the country’s economy, especially the service sector, will be seriously damaged. The people will suffer the most,” Mr. Behzad underlined.
It is worth mentioning that Afghan women enjoyed their rights and opportunities in all sectors during the past 20 years.