Q+A: Women’s rights in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban
This extract is from Reuters.com, by Amie Ferris-Rotman. Views expressed are the author’s own.
Women have won hard-fought rights in Afghanistan since the austere rule of the Taliban was ended by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.
But gains made in areas such as education, work and even dress code look shaky as the government plans peace talks that include negotiating with the Taliban. Below are some questions and answers about women’s rights in Afghanistan today.
HOW BAD WAS IT FOR WOMEN UNDER TALIBAN RULE?
Rights groups and Western governments described the situation as one of the worst that the world had encountered for women at that time.
Education, the right to vote and almost all work were banned for women by the Taliban government as un-Islamic from 1996-2001. A sharia law also imposed harsh punishment for adultery, which almost always favored men.
The Taliban also enforced a strict dress code involving a head-to-toe burqa when women left their homes.
Restrictions on their movement were also enforced. Women were not allowed by law to walk around unless accompanied by a male relative or their husband. Even then, they were told to keep their movement outside the home to a minimum.