Afghan universities reopened today after the winter break, with male students returning to school, but Taliban authorities continue to keep women out of universities. The ban on women attending university is one of many restrictions placed on women since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, a move that has sparked global outrage, including across the Muslim world, Agence France-Presse reported.
“It’s heartbreaking to see boys going to university while we have to stay at home,” said Rahela, 22, from Afghanistan’s central Ghor province. “It is sexist against women, Because Islam allows us to pursue higher education. No one can stop us from studying.”
The Taliban government has banned women from the university after accusing female students of ignoring strict dress codes and the requirement for male relatives to accompany them on campus.
Most universities have implemented gender-segregated entrances and classrooms in the past and have required women to be taught only by female or older male professors.
Several Taliban officials said the ban on girls’ education was temporary, although officials, despite their promises, have failed to reopen girls’ high schools, which have now been closed for more than a year. The Taliban have cited a litany of excuses for closing the girls’ high school, ranging from lack of funds to the time it takes to revise the syllabus along Islamic lines.
The real problem, according to some Taliban officials, is ultra-conservative clerics who advise Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and are very skeptical of modern women’s education.
Since taking power, the Taliban authorities have effectively excluded women from the public sphere. Many women were dismissed from government jobs or stayed at home for a fraction of their original wages.
They are also banned from parks, markets, gyms and public bathrooms, and must cover up in public.
Human rights groups have condemned the restrictions on women, which the United Nations has called “gender apartheid”.
The international community has made women’s right to education a key to negotiating support and recognition for the Taliban regime.
So far, no country has officially recognized the Taliban government.
