'Schools and universities are reopening — but not for girls'
Afghan women students stand outside the Kabul University in Kabul, Afghanistan, in December, after the Taliban banned women from third-level education. Picture: AP/Ebrahim Noroozi
Following the West's withdrawal from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 and the Taliban’s return to power, the ruling group has progressively curtailed women’s rights, restricting their basic freedoms and denying them access to education.
Despite initial promises by the Taliban that it would be more inclusive and respectful of women’s rights, it has proceeded to deprive them of opportunities to work and learn.
In March last year, thousands of girls were ordered to stay home on the day secondary schools were due to reopen. In December, women were banned from third-level education.
A conference at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick on Wednesday is aiming to highlight the plight of women in Afghanistan since the takeover by the Taliban and to chronicle their experiences.
One of the conference’s organisers is Nasratullah Taban, who is currently studying for an MA in media studies at Mary Immaculate, and enjoying living in Ireland.
“It’s a new environment, new culture, new country, new people. It’s amazing to learn more about the culture and Irish people.”
Before coming to Ireland, he worked as a journalist with a local news agency in Afghanistan.
“Working as a journalist in Afghanistan, it is like you are working like the military,” he said. “You are the frontline of democracy.” In a post-war country, this made the Taliban’s sudden return to power even more difficult in 2021, he said.
“That was very difficult, that you are losing all the things you promised to work for, like freedom and human rights. In one night, everything was removed, everything destroyed.”
His journey to Ireland after the collapse of the Afghan government is a “very long story”.
“Every Afghan has this type of story because when you are leaving your country, you are in darkness. You don’t know what to do.”
“It’s very good that we are in Ireland in the academic environment talking about the country. What can Irish people do?”
“They should ask the Government 'what did you do for Afghanistan in the last 20 years?' They should support Afghan women by any kind of ways they can; Fundraising, sending money to them, holding online classes for them.”
“Anything possible they think they can do for them because they are not allowed to go outside their home.”
This week, the Afghan education institutions are opening for the new semester.
“The Taliban announced that all the schools and universities are open, but not for women. The regime is not giving them the possibility to learn so it’s our time to make an online school for them, or to send money for them to study at home. This kind of thing we can do for them nowadays.”
The Women in Education: Afghanistan and Ireland conference aims to raise awareness of the cause by bringing together people directly affected by the change in leadership in Afghanistan.
Through a combination of online and in-person panels, exiled Afghans who are now living all over the world, as well as representatives from local and national aid organisations, will give first-hand accounts of the decline in women’s rights and the challenges facing the population in the country.
