A recent report by the United Nations says that the Taliban regime in impoverished Afghanistan has recently fired hundreds of women from their jobs for allegedly failing to comply with the Sharia demands imposed on women.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, said in its report released on Monday that the Taliban authorities have continued to enforce and publicize restrictions on the rights of women to work, education, and freedom of movement.
UNAMA presented evidence of women’s dismissal in a country where millions of people need humanitarian assistance.
According to the report, the Ministry of Virtue and Vice, which is responsible for enforcing morality, has created obstacles for women to access employment or services if they were not married or had no male guardian.
The report said that during the reporting period, at least 600 women in two provinces of Afghanistan had to wash their hands of their jobs due to violations of the dress code, the absence of a mahram or male relative, and other restrictions imposed on women.
The report said that the ministry’s provincial chapters imposed a ban on working for 400 women who worked in a pistachio factory in the eastern province of Nangarhar in October without providing any justification, while men were allowed to continue working.
The report said that in November, the Taliban administration dismissed 200 women from a power plant in the northern province of Balkh on the pretext of financial reasons, while no male employee faced such action.
According to the report, in one incident, the ministry officials instructed a female staff member of a health center who was unmarried to either get married or risk losing her job, saying that it was not appropriate for an unmarried woman to work.
The report said that last month, the ministry officials visited a bus station in the southern city of Kandahar to ensure that women did not travel long distances without a male relative and instructed the drivers not to allow female passengers to board the buses until they had a male relative with them.
The report said that in December, women were denied access to health centers in the eastern province of Paktia if they had no male relative with them, while the ministry officials continued to visit the health centers in the province to ensure the implementation of the order.