By Rukhshana Media
The Taliban’s new mayor of Kabul has ordered a group of professional women who returned to work at the Kabul city government to stay home starting from Saturday, October 23, two sources confirmed to Rukhshana Media on Thursday.
Since the Taliban returned to power in mid- August, the group has “temporarily” banned almost all women’s work and education. They ordered women employees to stay home until the Taliban can prepare an “appropriate environment” for their return to work. However, small groups of professional women who couldn’t be replaced by men, such as computer engineers and social media specialists, were ordered to return to work.
Now, the Taliban’s new mayor of Kabul, Mawlawi Abdul Rashid, ordered on his second day in office that all women employees stay at home indefinitely.
“Today, all women employees at Kabul Municipality were ordered not to return to work on Saturday,” an official who spoke in condition of anonymity told Rukhshana Media.
“This does not mean they are laid off, they will still receive their salaries, but because the condition is not safe and normal according to Islamic Emirate’s standard, they are asked not to return to work,” the source said.
However, the women who are protesting the Taliban’s restrictions on women, say the group is using “safety” as an excuse to deny women their rights.
“It has been two months that we were working and everything was normal for us,” said a 30-year-old female employee who asked not be named out of fear of retaliation from the Taliban.
“Today the officials told us that we are not allowed to return to work from Saturday, but when I asked why, they said they don’t know why,” said the employee, a breadwinner for her family of five. She was asked to inform some of around 100 women who returned to work.
Before the Taliban took over, Kabul Municipality employed more than 700 women.
The news comes at a time that, a group of women held a demonstration in Kabul, protesting against unemployment and economic hardship. But the Taliban responded with violence and did not allow the women to continue with their protests.
“When I called my colleagues to inform them of the news, some cried and said going to work was a hope, but we lost it now,” said the municipality employee.
