Women start own enterprises in Afghanistan amid restrictions on employment
Apr 07, 2023
Kabul [Afghanistan], April 7 : After losing their jobs to the Taliban's hardline policies, several former female employees in government institutions have started their own enterprises, TOLOnews reported.
This decision came after women in Afghanistan were barred from working in non-governmental organisations by the de-facto authorities.
Several female students in Afghanistan have repeatedly claimed they were having mental and emotional issues as a result of the shutdown of the country's colleges and universities for girls.
Among those working before the Taliban seized power, many have fled abroad in search of better opportunities while those who could not are in severe humanitarian crisis.
Sima is the sole provider for her right-member family, according to TOLOnews. She claimed to work for the Academy of Sciences, but in order to provide for her family, she has now started producing Bolanis, a stuffed flatbread.
Sima added that she has invested 10,000 Afs in her business. "When the Islamic Emirate took over, I lost my job. I borrowed some money from relatives and began my small business to cope with life's hardships and afford house rent," she was quoted as saying by the Afghan news agency.
Since the Taliban seized power in Kabul last year, the dire humanitarian situation has been exacerbated in the wake of an unprecedented nationwide economic, financial and humanitarian crises.
The Taliban dismantled the system to respond to gender-based violence, created new barriers to women accessing health care, blocked women's aid workers from doing their jobs, and attacked women's rights protesters, according to reports.
Several human rights and education activists urged world leaders in an open letter recently to mount diplomatic pressure on the Taliban to reopen secondary schools for girls in the war-torn country as well as allow them to go to work, according to TOLOnews.
Moreover, in an earlier statement, HRW's Barr said the Taliban rollback of the rights of women and girls began immediately after they took power on August 15, 2021.
