ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban authorities have further increased restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan in recent months, including in education and employment, the U.N. said in a report on the human rights situation issued Monday.
Taliban’s Ministry of Public Health has announced that only males will be allowed to take exams to pursue specialized medical studies, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said in the report, which covers developments in May and June.
That follows a ban on female medical students taking graduation exams announced in February and a prohibition on women attending universities issued last December, the report said.
The U.N. said it has recorded instances in which the Taliban have enforced previously announced limitations on women’s freedom of movement and employment.
In early May, two Afghan female staff of an international non-governmental organization were arrested by Taliban forces at an airport because they were traveling without a male companion, or mahram, the report said.
In June, a midwife was detained and interrogated for five hours by the Taliban’s intelligence service, which threatened her with death if she continued her work with an NGO. She resigned two days later as a result, the report said.
The part on women not being allowed to travel (particular minimum distances) without a mahram (someone youre not allowed to marry, so male family) is part of Islam, at least traditionally. So the Taliban arent unorthodox with that.
Except we aren’t talking about travel. We’re talking about the Taliban forbidding women from holding jobs or attending college or working as doctors. None of that is part of any of the 5 major schools of Islamic thought. Restricting travel of unaccompanied minors and solo women would actually be somewhat defensible because of how dangerous Afghanistan is, but again that’s not relevant to this case.