By: Rukhshana Media
Dozens of female government employees staged a protest in Shar-e-Naw park in Kabul on Thursday, June 9, calling on the Taliban to allow them return to work.
“We want the ruling regime to look at us as Afghanistan’s working force, and don’t harm us anymore,” a protester read the statement aloud, adding that women were being “removed one after another” from the government offices.
“We are worried about the employment future of all women,” she said.
No data was available about the number of women who lost their jobs after the Taliban’s return to power in August. By some estimates the number could be as high as tens of thousands.
“Work is our right, they shouldn’t take our God-given right from us,” one woman yelled. “Our voices should be heard,” said another protester.
The Taliban have fired all 120 female employees of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission, according to the protester’s statement. After many efforts, only ten were allowed to return to work, and 110 are still kept at home.
The protesters said they held a similar protest last winter, raising their concerns about female employment in the government.
One of the women protesters, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, told Rukhshana Media that the majority of women who took part in the protest were the breadwinners of their families. She said the women have been eliminated from the Taliban’s organizational structure after they came to power.
