The Economist April 2nd 2022 47
AsiaAfghanistanNo country for young women
O
n march 23rd thousands of Afghan
girls headed to school for the first time
in eight months, kitted out in bulging
rucksacks, neatly pressed headscarves and
covid19 face masks. Within hours, they
were at home in tears—and not because of
playground fights or test results. In a last
minute pivot, the Taliban had backtracked
on a decision to reopen secondary schools
for girls and sent them home.
The new Taliban are beginning to look a
lot like the old Taliban who ran Afghani
stan from 1996 to 2001, when women who
failed to cover every inch of flesh in public
were beaten and adulterers were stoned to
death. But Afghan women have changed
after two decades of Americanbacked gov
ernment. Many have university degrees.
Before the Taliban seized power last year,
almost 30% of civil servants were women.
On the streets of Kabul bookwaving girls
have been chanting: “open the schools”.
When American forces withdrew from
Afghanistan, the big question was how the
Taliban would make the transition from a
fundamentalist insurgency to running a
country. Girls’ education became the litmus test. In August there was some hope
they wanted to show a gentler face. Offi
cials were interviewed by female present
ers on television. At the Taliban’s first press
conference after seizing power, a spokes
man reassured the world that women
would be “very active” in Afghan society.
That balancing act seems over. The
abrupt uturn on education, which affects
over 1m schoolage girls, is one of a string
of recent repressive edicts. New rules ban
women from travelling long distances
without a male chaperone. That can mean
they need a brother or a husband to enter a
government building or a taxi. A surgeon
in Kabul says Taliban officials often visit,warning him not to see female patients
who turn up alone. “This is a sad moment
for all of us,” he adds.
Years of progress are imperilled. Under
the previous democratic government,
backed by American troops and money,
there was corruption and bigotry. But the
female literacy rate more than doubled be
tween 2000 and 2018 to 30%. Thousands of
women got jobs as doctors, lawyers or
cops. Some became entrepreneurs. Mater
nal mortality declined sharply and female
life expectancy rose by ten years.
Now a generation of girls is falling be
hind. Some risk their lives to attend under
ground schools. Sexist violence was a pro
blem even before the Taliban takeover,
with 87% of women and girls saying they
had suffered abuse. Many teenagers will
becomemothers before schools reopen.
Life is no better for older women who
managed to get an education before last
year’s takeover. The Taliban have purged
women from most workplaces. In a un sur
vey conducted in October, every single per
son interviewed knew a woman who had
lost her job in the previous month. Qama
rulbanat Quraishy has been unemployed
since August and is frantically searching
for work. But employers are turning away
female candidates. Ms Quraishy’s savings
have run dry and her debts are mounting.
“I have no hope,” says the 24yearold.
Bigotry affects the economy too. In
terms of the increase in hourly earnings
from an extra year of schooling, the return
on educating girls in Afghanistan wasThe Taliban are pushing females out of public life→Alsointhissection
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