“We are deeply worried about Afghan women and girls, their rights to education, work and freedom of movement.”
That’s the statement on the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan, signed by 21 governing bodies. They are right to be worried trib.al/5lKzyVO
The Taliban has vowed to take a more moderate stance on women’s rights, but details are thin on what that means in practice.
The reality of their rule already looks troubling trib.al/keB25cW
The story for the last two decades has been a more positive one for women and girls in Afghanistan.
🏫 As of 2019, over 9 million children were enrolled in schools, 39% of them girls
📖 Literacy rates for females have soared trib.al/keB25cW
The last decade or so has seen:
➡️ The first cohorts of female medical students in modern-day Afghanistan graduate
➡️ The establishment of an Afghan all-girls robotics team
➡️ More women enrolling at universities trib.al/keB25cW
Other development indicators have been moving in the right direction:
➡️ Female life expectancy at birth has increased to 66 years from 57
➡️ The rate of maternal deaths has been cut in half
➡️ Gross national income per capita for women has almost tripled trib.al/keB25cW
Improvements in the labor-force participation rate have been slower, and Afghanistan still lags far behind global averages.
But there’s been an increase in female entrepreneurialism — which was banned under Taliban rule trib.al/keB25cW
On the Gender Inequality Index, Afghanistan ranks 169th out of 189 countries.
Significant progress has been made toward justice for women, most notably the introduction of the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law in 2009 trib.al/keB25cW
The EVAW law led to an increase in reporting and investigations of violent crimes against Afghan women.
But the full enforcement of it remains elusive, and its existence is now threatened by Taliban rule, @hrw reports trib.al/keB25cW
When asked in February about acceptable conditions for a peace deal, 11% of Afghan adults said they would be willing to accept a ban on women and girls attending school.
The vast majority want to protect women’s rights trib.al/keB25cW
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