Women protest in Afghanistan to be reinstated in their jobs
Kabul, Jun 9 (EFE).- Dozens of Afghan female public officials took to the streets Thursday in Kabul to raise their voices for women’s labor rights and demand that they be reinstated in their jobs, from which they were removed after the Taliban came to power.
“Most of us have bachelor’s and master’s degrees with more than 10 years of experience. We have to receive our right to work and we should be re-recruited for our jobs,” several protesters said in a short video.
The group of women protested in a neighborhood in the northwest of the capital, shouting “we want our rights” and “we want to work.”
Women’s access to the jobs they had before the fundamentalists came to power on Aug. 15 last year is one of the main demands made by the international community to the Taliban government.
Only women workers in certain sectors, such as primary education or healthcare, have been able to return to their jobs.
The Taliban say that women will be able to return to their jobs in the future when they have created a framework that allows this step to be taken within the limitations of Sharia or Islamic law.
The rise of the Taliban not only ended many of the rights of women and girls but also plunged Afghanistan into a severe economic crisis following the imposition of sanctions on the country by the international community.
The country’s economic situation continues to be worrying, the World Bank revealed in a report on Thursday.
“Economic and social conditions in Afghanistan remain dire, despite increasing international humanitarian support following the abrupt cessation of aid inflows in August 2021,” the document noted.
“The economy has collapsed, employment and imports—including food and energy—are estimated to have halved, and government spending has likely fallen by three-fourths since August 2021,” it added.
“Recent surveys show that three-fourths of households report insufficient incomes to meet basic needs,” the World Bank said. EFE
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