By: Sherin Yousfi
It has been more than 300 days that the Taliban have kept the gates of schools closed to millions of girls between sixth and twelfth grades.
Afghans from within the country have protested against the closure of girls’ schools since the Taliban took power, and those, who live abroad, have also raised their voice on social and traditional media. The international community, too, applied some pressure, asking the Taliban to allow girls to get an education.
Recently, a social media campaign was launched to encourage and pressure the Taliban government to end its ban on girls’ education, using the hashtag #LetGirlsLearn.
The Taliban have so far ignored all national and international pleas, and it is unclear when they will allow girls to return to school to start their studies.
Despite pledging they would allow girls of all ages to get education, the Taliban have not fulfilled that promise yet. The Taliban imposed a total ban on women education during their first rule over Afghanistan in the 1990s. Many fear they would do the same again.
In this report, Rukhshana Media has interviewed human right defenders and education activists to ask why the Taliban are against women’s education and why they aren’t allowing girls’ school to reopen.
Humaira Qaderi, a writer and women’s rights activist, said female education isn’t a priority for the Taliban.
The Taliban have said they will reopen girls’ schools after they design a special uniform or hijab for students of secondary and high schools. Qaderi criticized the Taliban for not being able to do so in almost a year.
“The Taliban don’t want girls to study,” she said, “Otherwise I know Afghan girls are willing to go to school wearing a burqa or face covering because it is better than being excluded” from society.
The Taliban designed, produced and distributed a special uniform for some of their fighters in the past few months.
“The only thing the Taliban have done during this time(since the beginning of their government) was designing uniforms for their soldiers,” she said. “The fate of girls is not as important as the uniform of their soldiers.”
The Taliban didn’t invite any women to take part in their Jirga held last month with around 3,000 participants.
“The Taliban do not even want the physical presence of their like-minded women,” Qaderi added. “It is clear that they don’t open school, they don’t even think about the fate of women.”
Naeem Nazari, a former commissioner of the dissolved Independent Human Rights Commission, said the Taliban are using the girls’ education as a bargaining tool with the international community.
“The Taliban are using women and girls as a defensive shield for themselves in the political arena,” he said, “And by imposing restrictions on women and keeping the girls’ schools closed, they want to use both as a leverage.”
Nazari added that the Taliban have taken both, the girls’ education and women’s rights, as a hostage to gain international recognition.
“If this situation continues, we will see Afghanistan fall behind the caravan of human civilization,” Nazari said.
Sima Hamdard, a women’s rights activist, believes that the Taliban’s hardliners, who preached against women education for decades, want the girls’ schools to remain closed for their own survival, meaning if they allow girls education their extremist followers will part ways with them.
There is a conflict between the moderate and the harline Taliban on girls’ education, according to Hamdard. She said if the hardliners agree to the reopening of girls schools, it will weaken their position against the moderates.
Hamdard said the opposition to women’s education is so strong among the Taliban, that they may not allow the reopening of girls schools in exchange for international recognition.
The Taliban’s have imposed restrictions on women to such an extent that many call their government a “gender aparthide” state.
In a message on the occasion of Eidul Adha nearly two weeks ago, Shaharzad Akbar, the former chairwoman of Independent Human Rights Commission, wrote on Twitter that “With the Taliban’s gender apartheid, and widespread discremention (against women), many in our homeland don’t have Eid” to celebrate.
