Afghan women protest over closed girls’ schools

KABUL (Tolo News): Women protesters gathered in Kabul to emphasize that the Islamic Emirate should immediately lift restrictions on women and reopen girls’ schools above the sixth grade.
“In the nine months since the Taliban came to power, women have been marginalized, deprived of the right to work, deprived of the right to education, and forced … to wear hijab,” said one of the protesters. “We call on the international community to put pressure on the Taliban to allow women to go back to work and girls to go to school,” said the protester. The protesters called for the reopening of all schools in the country for girls above the sixth grade. Some protesters yelled slogans such as “food, labor, and freedom.”
They also stated that they will continue to demonstrate until their demands were met. “Our protest will continue until we get our rights and our demands are fully met,” said a protester. “They should provide us with our rights, our slogan is ‘bread, work and freedom,’ that is why we have come here on behalf of the northern people,” said the protester.
TOLOnews was unable to get the Islamic Emirate’s view on the issue, although the government had announced the formation of a committee to reopen girls’ schools in the country above grade 6. “Our question to the Islamic Emirate is, which part of the Qur’an or Hadith states that women should not study?” said the student.
Most women employees in government institutions were not permitted to return to work after the re-establishment of the Islamic Emirate, and girls’ schools above the sixth grade have remained closed.
The international community reacted to the Islamic Emirate’s policies regarding women, although the Islamic Emirate has frequently emphasized that it is committed to women’s rights within the context of Islamic law.