Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Wednesday, the leader of UKIP referred to "80 practising Sharia courts around the United Kingdom". What do Afghan women think?Ī well-respected educator from the city of Herat, who did not want to be named, told the ABC this was "a challenging new chapter" and everyone was trying to adjust.īut she said while the Taliban have made many promises and have so far "shown they are different", people are still afraid because many remember what they were like before."There are 80 practising Sharia courts around the United Kingdom, and I've got no problem with different religions and different groups having their own private observance, but the law should be the law." In the city of Herat, civilians reported that media, universities and entertainment programs had all closed since the Taliban took control last week, while state television was broadcasting information about new laws and dress codes.īut some female students said they were informed the university would reopen and they would be allowed to return, but with new restrictions. Taliban officials have said such inconsistences are due to security issues and varying levels of acceptance of girls’ education within the communities themselves. There have also been conflicting reports in other areas of girls being refused education, and women being ordered to leave their jobs. In some Taliban-controlled areas, women have been allowed in schools and the workforce, but they followed strict dress codes and were often separated from males. in a normal situation will expand," he said. Speaking to the ABC before the Taliban's takeover of Kabul, Mr Shaheen said women in Taliban territory were already working in clinics and schools. ( Reuters: Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool) Suhail Shaheen is a member of Taliban's negotiation team. What will women's rights look like under the new Taliban rule? "What we are witnessing unfold in Afghanistan in real time is devastating and heart-breaking," Ms Legena said. With the Taliban in control, even the minimal rights gained by women in the past 20 years could be at risk. In rural areas, many women still remained covered, uneducated and largely confined to the home. Long before the Taliban retook their cities, women like Ms Raha were still campaigning for the right to use their own names in public, rather than being defined by the name of their closet male relative. Taliban begin to reopen Afghan schools with older girls so far excluded from study.With documents hidden under their clothes, they told the Taliban they were farmers and crossed the border.Read more about the Taliban's advance in Afghanistan: ( Reuters: Mohammad Ismail)Īfter the Taliban rule ended in 2001, women slowly gained some rights in Afghan society, at least in urban areas.īut it was still a far cry from the equality reached in countries like Australia. Since Taliban rule ended in 2001, women have slowly gained some rights within Afghan society. Cinema, television and non-religious music were banned.īut it is important to note that many of these restrictions were already widely practised as part of Afghan tradition, culture and beliefs, particularly in rural areas. Women risked severe punishment if they showed their faces uncovered outside of the home. "Girls as young as 12 were forced into marriages." "During the regime's brutal previous rule, girls were forbidden from classrooms and could only leave their homes with a male 'guardian'," Plan International Australia CEO Susanne Legena said. When the Taliban took power in 1996, they enforced strict dress codes for both men and women and largely barred women from work and education. What rights did women have under the last Taliban rule? "No-one in the Islamic world, anyone calling himself Muslim, can change the Islamic rules," he said. "Some legislation made by man can be changed, but not the rules made by God," Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban's Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, told the ABC. The Taliban say a board of religious scholars will determine what laws they will enforce now that they are back in power. Today, no two Muslim-majority countries in the world have identical laws, yet most say their laws are based on the principles of the sharia.Įven within Afghanistan, both the Taliban and the government of former president Ashraf Ghani claimed to be Islamic systems, but the two are vastly different in practice. Sharia is meant to serve as a guide in all aspects of Muslim life, but attempts have been made to incorporate sharia into state laws in many different ways, by various groups for more than a thousand years.
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