Empowering and encouraging women to participate more fully in the public sphere is essential. Gender diversity in public institutions is particularly crucial, given that these decision-making bodies create the rules that affect people’s rights, behaviors, and life choices.
An increase of women in public life results in lower levels of inequality and increased confidence in national governments. Figures show that the increased presence of women cabinet ministers is associated with a rise in public health spending across many countries.
Ensuring that governments reflect the diversity of the societies they represent guarantees a balanced perspective which enables an inclusive approach to policymaking and service delivery. There is no better symbol for the disappearance of women’s rights in Afghanistan than the end of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the return of the Ministry for Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. When the Taliban on September 7 2021 announced their new interim government, the vice and virtue ministry featured on the list, with a cleric as its newly appointed minister. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs had disappeared, and there were no women in the new cabinet. To add insult to injury, the Taliban government handed over the women’s ministry building to be the new home of the vice and virtue ministry.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was founded in 2001 with a mandate to “implement government’s social and political policy to secure legal rights of women in the country.” The ministry has often struggled with a lack of influence and resources, but its existence was an important acknowledgment by and a reminder to the government of its obligation under international human rights law to ensure gender equality. Afghanistan ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2003.
The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was founded in 2001 with a mandate to “implement government’s social and political policy to secure legal rights of women in the country.” The ministry has often struggled with a lack of influence and resources, but its existence was an important acknowledgment by and a reminder to the government of its obligation under international human rights law to ensure gender equality. Afghanistan ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 2003.
The Taliban in sheer negligence has committed blunders that go against the Sharia which their administration propounds to implement.
The massive blunders committed after regaining control of the government are:
- Women journalists have been pushed out of their jobs;
- Women have been advised by the Taliban spokesperson to stay at home and not go to work because Taliban fighters may mistreat them;
- Women who taught in boys’ schools and universities have been dismissed;
- Women working in the government have been dismissed;
- On September 18 2021 secondary schools reopened, but only for boys;
- New onerous restrictions have been imposed on women and girls’ participation in higher education;
- Services for women and girls experiencing gender-based violence have been targeted and closed;
- Women’s rights activists and high-profile women have been harassed and many are afraid and in hiding;
- Women’s sports are no longer permitted;
The mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) expired on September 17.
Recommendations by AISSC
There are steps the Taliban government should urgently take if they are really serious about getting recognition by the international community as a legal representative of national & international affairs of Afghanistan. The steps taken in the direction to secure women’s rights in the Afghan society will make the Taliban government trustworthy for the world as well as it will give leverage to its leadership at times of diplomatic engagements with world leaders on international forums. The right policy move will also send positive signals which will improve the image of Islam and the Muslims around the world.
- The Taliban government can approach the United Nations Security Council to renew the mission’s mandate and bolster its capacity to monitor, investigate, and report on human rights abuses in the country during the 20 years of the US occupation, especially violations of the rights of women and girls.
- Taliban can request donor governments to strengthen the ability of the UN to deliver lifesaving aid.
- The government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan must reopen the Ministry of Women Affairs which will send the right and positive signals to not only the international community but also to the local Afghan population.
- A much more profound transformation is needed — in the ministry and in the approach of the Taliban administration — if it is to begin addressing gender issues in a real and sustainable way.
- The ministry can be made functional within the guidelines of Sharia provisions for women, this will help the IEA government to implement right modern 21st century policies for women in fields of education, healthcare, child rights, business, sports, employment, marital policies, family policies, political and leadership rights exclusively for women.
- A whole-of-government approach by the Taliban is crucial to advancing the role of women in government. Holistic policymaking will not only help integrate more women into the local economy but will ensure that gender considerations are more systematically embedded in all policies.
- To empower women and fully leverage their skills in the global economy, the Taliban need to improve the public institutions to ensure they have robust accountability mechanisms;
- IEA needs to create clearly defined roles for implementing a gender equality agenda and break down its data by gender in order to measure progress on gender equality.
Written by Hon’ Executive Board Member of AISSC – Syed Shah Fahad Hussain
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