Recently, the United Nations accused the Taliban authorities that they are violating women’s right to work in Afghanistan and removed them from government jobs. The Taliban authorities denied these claims and said that thousands of women have been employed in government jobs.
Claims By Taliban Authorities
Another statement came by Sharafuddin Sharaf, the Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. He told the reporters that women in Afghanistan were being paid despite not coming to work as the offices haven’t been segregated properly based on sex.
Sharafuddin Sharaf further stated that both sexes cannot work together in one office according to the Islamic system. He affirmed that “not a single female employee has been fired” from government jobs, however, failed to put a number on how many women were currently working.
He also said that a few women went to the office once a week when they felt relevant to sign attendance and their salaries were paid at their homes. He said that women were working in departments where their importance was realized such as health, education and interior ministries.
Here’s What The UN Report States
A United Nations rights expert said that there is a “staggering regression” in women’s rights under Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Richard Bennett, the special rapporteur on the rights situation in Afghanistan said, “There’s no country in the world where women and girls have so rapidly been deprived of their fundamental human rights purely because of gender.”
However, calling these statements biased, government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid insisted “There is no threat to the lives of women in Afghanistan now, or nobody dishonors Afghan women.”
Also Read: ResearchED: How One Year Of Taliban Rule Changed The Fate Of Afghanistan?
Are Claims By Taliban Leaders True?
Though Taliban authorities have denied removing women from work, the protests that happened recently in Afghanistan tell another side of the story.
On one fine Monday morning in July this year, the Taliban issued a new diktat where they asked women employees to send male relatives that could replace them from their jobs. This came after a year of banning women from working in public sectors in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Several women accepted that they had received a call from the Taliban officials telling them about the new diktat.
A woman stated, “I was asked to introduce a male family member to replace me, so I could be dismissed from the job.”
A woman working for the Afghan Ministry of Finance for the past 15 years, Maryam, said, “I was asked to introduce a male family member to replace me at the ministry, so I could be dismissed from the job.”
She further said, “Since they came, the Taliban have demoted me and reduced my salary from 60,000 Afghanis (Pound 575) to AFN 12,000. I cannot even afford my son’s school fees. When I questioned this, an official rudely told me to get out of his office and said that my demotion was not negotiable.”
According to the reports by Geo News, the sudden removal of women employees from jobs resulted in a USD 1 billion loss.
The women didn’t keep quiet and protested against the cruelty of Taliban authorities. Approximately, 40 women marched to the Education Ministry in Kabul and were seen saying “bread, work and freedom”.
However, Taliban fighters beat the protestors and fired in the air in order to disperse the females who were protesting.
The demonstrators screamed that August 15 is a black day for Afghanistan because last year on August 15, 2021, the Taliban gained control over Afghanistan and since then, the situation has gotten worse every passing day, especially for women and girls.
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Al Jazeera, The Print, The Hindu
Find the blogger: Palak Dogra
This post is tagged under: Taliban, Kabul, Afghanistan, Afghani women, women’s rights, human rights, United Nations, right to work, government jobs, government
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