Brief update: When women's rights and educational prospects hit a new low!
The Taliban's hard line on gender discrimination has grown even tougher since their ouster from power in 2001.
Just a few weeks ago, they introduced new restrictions on women's rights that now include a ban on the use of women's voices in public (forced into silence, as the voice is considered an intimate part of a woman that must be covered – no singing!) and a ban on any form of education beyond the sixth grade.
Specifically, they now extended the ban to the broadcasting of secondary and university-level educational programs, which were previously aired by local radio and TV stations and had become widely popular as an alternative mode of education.
Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are denied education beyond the sixth grade. Women have always been considered by the Taliban as second-class citizens, subject to violence, forced marriage and a virtually invisible presence in the country.
The magnitude of this disaster defies imagination: according to UNESCO, nearly 2.5 million girls (80% of the country's female school-age population) do not attend school, and 1.4 million are denied access to secondary education.
As I mentioned in my January 2023 post (https://www.lifesnotebook.com/post/denying-access-education-affects-people-nations-world-afghan-women), the consequences are far-reaching, not just on a personal and family level, but also in terms of public health and the economy. Domestic confinement and silence are shaping women's fate. Their families are deprived of any source of income and sink deeper into poverty (since Afghan women are excluded from the job market). The annual economic cost of banning women from employment in Afghanistan is estimated by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) at USD 1 billion (5% of GDP). The GDP is reported to have already fallen by 6.2% in 2022 (IMF), and by a further 4.4% in 2023.
In conclusion, universal principles of human rights, such as the respect for human dignity and the worth of the individual, or gender equality, are not up for negotiation. Education is indispensable to the development of the personal, social and economic well-being of women, families and communities. It contributes to improving health, boosting economic growth and promoting lasting peace, so that future generations can look forward to a better future.
#womensrights #womeneducation #sexism
