The Taliban have banned women from working in NGOs in Afghanistan and further restricted their freedoms. But this country is not the only country that is undermining women’s rights.
Women in Afghanistan have fewer and fewer rights. Previous snub: December 24, when the country’s Economy Ministry banned them from working in non-governmental organizations (NGOs). “Serious complaints” are in question, suggesting that those who worked there did not respect the wearing of the Islamic headscarf. Less than a week earlier, the Taliban, who had promised flexibility when they returned to power in August 2021, announced that young women would be banned from universities, deprived of secondary education and barred from most public jobs.
“Despite courageous protests by women across the country, the Taliban are determined to build a society where women are considered second-class citizens,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General of Amnesty International. And sadly, Afghanistan is far from the only country undermining women’s rights.
work permit
Access to education, already difficult in many countries, is even more difficult for young girls. According to NGO ONE, Sudan holds the record for the lowest proportion of girls in school. “For every 100 boys, only 75 girls go to primary school, UNICEF points out. Less than one percent of these girls attend end-to-end school Young women are deprived of a better future: at the bottom of the rankings are the Central African Republic, Niger, Afghanistan, Chad, Mali and Guinea.
Work, a source of income, is a first step towards women’s independence that many countries do not want to take. The World Bank report “Women, Business and the Law” recalls that in 18 countries around the world, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar, women need the consent of a man close to them to work. The same was true in France until July 13, 1965, when married women were allowed to work and open a bank account without their husband’s permission.
Continue reading
Husband Approved Care
Husband, father, even younger brother, women living in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Guinea, Pakistan, Yemen or Bangladesh need to get male guardian consent to get married, go about daily life and sometimes medical care in to take advantage of, such as Pap smears or pelvic exams. A 20-year-old girl from Qatar told Human Rights Watch that she had to lie to get treatment. “I was in so much pain the doctor thought I had a ruptured ovarian cyst,” she explains. But they wouldn’t do a vaginal ultrasound on me without a marriage certificate.” A friend pretended to be her husband to give her access to care.
Nor can women anywhere in the world freely dispose of their bodies. Voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) is banned in about twenty countries in particular, such as Congo, Egypt, Djibouti, Gabon, Honduras and the Philippines. More recently, the reversal of the Roe v. Wade case in the United States allows certain American states to ban the practice.
Control of movements and clothing
Unlike men, women in certain countries are also restricted in their freedom of movement. For example, Human Rights Watch found that Qatari women, regardless of their age, can be banned from traveling by their husbands or fathers. If they are unmarried and under the age of 25, they must obtain permission from their guardian to travel abroad.
Sometimes clothing is also imposed, as in Iran. A wave of protests has swept the country since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old student, three days after she was arrested by vice squads. She was accused of violating the Islamic Republic’s dress code by wearing her veil incorrectly. The NGO Iran Human Rights has counted 476 demonstrators killed since the movement began in mid-September 2022. The movement, a party defending women’s rights, has spread to the entire population. A 38-year-old Iranian living in Lyon committed suicide on Monday December 26 to denounce the situation in his country of origin.
VIDEO – Retrospective 2022: three months of protests in Iran