Asia-PacificAnalysis

Afghan women refused entry to universities as Taliban ban comes into force

Since retaking power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically cancelled the rights gained by girls and women

The ban came without warning, reversing a decision to allow thousands of girls and women to sit university entrance examinations in October. Photograph: EPA
The ban came without warning, reversing a decision to allow thousands of girls and women to sit university entrance examinations in October. Photograph: EPA
Michael Jansen's picture
Michael Jansen
Wed Dec 21 2022 - 19:55

Women students in Afghanistan were refused entry to universities on Wednesday after the Taliban banned them from higher education.

The UN’s mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban to “immediately” revoke the decree, reopen girls’ schools beyond the sixth grade and “end all measures preventing women and girls from participating fully in daily public life”.

But senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, Graeme Smith, told Reuters: “The flood of outrage from the West will strengthen the resolve of the Taliban leadership, which defines itself as a bulwark against the outside world.”

This stance has, so far, denied the Taliban administration control of the country’s assets in foreign banks, led to the imposition of sanctions and seriously harmed the Afghan people. They have had to subsist over the past 15 months on limited foreign humanitarian aid. It is estimated that 59 per cent of people cannot afford shelter and 75 per cent lack money for food.

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The reclusive religious scholar and Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is in his 70s, has the final word on the movement’s policies and, reportedly, ordered more modern-minded and moderate officials to issue the prohibition. He was responsible for barring girls from secondary education.

The ban was announced on Tuesday by hardline higher education minister Neda Nadim, a harsh critic of western-style education who previously served as governor of Kabul. It was effective immediately and will remain in force until further notice. The ban came without warning, reversing a decision to allow thousands of girls and women to sit university entrance examinations in October.

The decree has ended the studies of women already at university and dashed the hopes of successful female candidates. They would have been permitted to follow a limited range of courses at public and private universities. Although excluded from journalism, agriculture, veterinary medicine, engineering and economics, women could study to be teachers, doctors and nurses. Afghanistan needs women medical professionals to treat female patients, in the process maintaining a separation of the sexes.

Since retaking power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically cancelled the rights gained by girls and women during the country’s 20 years under the western-backed secular government. The Taliban promised to be more respectful of women’s rights but, instead, has forced them to cover up in public, banned them from travelling outside their cities and towns without a male relative escort, and barred girls from secondary education. The drive to circumscribe women was further expanded with the exclusion of women from parks, gyms and amusement parks.

Save the Children, Norwegian Refugee Council, CARE International, and the International Rescue Committee said they were suspending their programmes.

The Taliban claims girls and women will be allowed education once a suitable “Islamic environment” is created but, having promised that secondary education would resume in March, the Taliban closed schools shortly before they reopened.