Taliban closing universities to women

[Perennis]

I'm finding this news is making me feel so angry and helpless. I know we all care less about what's happening in far away places but I can't be satisfied with the state of women's rights just because it's better closer to home.

I'm wondering if there's anything practical I can do. I've tried googling to see if there are places supporting secret online learning. Any other suggestions?

It's shit, but it was expected. I am more 😮about them banning women from children's play parks.

Yes, this just feels like the final nail in the coffin. There's a BBC headline saying "Afghanistan 'not a country but a cage for women'". Seems to sum it up well.

We should never have pulled out of that country. To give those women and girls a taste of freedom and then just abandon them and watch everything stripped from them breaks my heart.

I really feel we should allow every female in that country a home here and in other safe countries.

It's horrendous, isn't it. I haven't read up on this, so am being lazy by just asking here, but what's the Taliban's view on women HCPs? Do they allow those to treat women, or are women somehow expected to manage without health care, given that I can't imagine they allow women to be treated by male HCPs. If women are prevented from training as midwives, Afghani women are going to be in an even worse way in the near future.

Women are not allowed to be seen by male doctors. There were female doctors educated in schools and trained in universities.
Now schools have been closed to girls for a while so there are no girls to go to universities anyway. No education, no doctors training, no womens healthcare. At all.

I was reading an article about this earlier in an attempt to get some up to date information about what's happening. Women aren't allowed to leave the house unless escorted by a male relative, who would then be expected to sit in on any medical consultation. So obviously women (a) often can't leave the house at all, even in a medical emergency, because all the male relatives are out at the time and (b) they can't then talk confidentially to a HCP about sensitive issues like contraception, termination of pregnancy, domestic abuse, sexual assault. Women who are trained as HCPs have been threatened by the Taliban for going to work, wearing their nurse's uniform, and so on.

Is this a death cult? How can they not see that by making it so difficult for women and girls to access health care they are going to see a huge spike in preventable deaths of women, girls and children? Don't they care about that?

I just wish we'd not made such a clusterfuck of our withdrawal. There were plenty of young people who'd been accepted to UK unis and were literally weeks away from leaving.

But after 20 years it wasn't really sustainable to just continue. Especially with China increasingly supporting the Taliban. It's quite possible that in another 20 years China will be a force we can't match.

Appallingly, women and girls are the collateral damage yet again.

I think a lot of men probs don't agree with the Taliban but don't dare to draw attention to themselves. I was thinking earlier how all the girls studying/applying to uni must've had relatively supportive parents else they'd not have been able to.

I think you are right.

Men who have spoken out against the Taliban have gone missing / been killed

The choice between speaking out and risking leaving your female relatives unprotected and therefore in greater danger, and not speaking out and watching your female relatives get their rights stripped away is a horrendous one

I choked up earlier seeing a tweet about male medical students walking out in support of their female peers. It's a gesture, but it must have taken guts to do it.

That's wonderful. Any resistance has to come from within, as Afghanistan has been proving to the world forever.

Fucking shit for the poor population.

I wonder how many of our transwomen here would self-identify if they were Afghani.

We should never have pulled put of that country

Who's we? Were you there putting your life on the line? Or your sons? Or is it just other people's lives that you are prepared to sacrifice.

I feel desperately sorry for the women of Afghanistan but 200 years of interference from other countries has led to this. Utterly painful as it will be the Afghan people have to be the ones to reject this ideology, change cannot be imposed.

I don't know what the Taliban think they're doing by stopping female education because it's not just the girls and women themselves who will suffer but the entire country. Having educated women and a strong female workforce is essential for any country to develop and take its place on the world stage. When females are educated everyone benefits.

I heard on radio 4 this morning that there are reports that the Taliban may prevent girls from primary education.
How can they have enough support for any of this? How have women and girls become 2nd class citizens?
And school is much more than "just" education - and denying them that is barbaric enough. Its about friendship, community, confidence, trust , safeguarding (this rings major alarm bells for me)

It’s beyond appalling.
There used to be a charity called “ Skateistan” that taught Girls to skateboard 🛹 and also had schools set up.
Girls were taught by Women.
It had a good take up.
Absolutely tragic.

A very good film called “ Osama” was filmed in Afghanistan, about a girl who pretended to be a boy, for the freedom and to work.

Available online, using Afghan children, and civilians which makes it seem so believable.

Not according to the Taliban.
Women are child bearers, cooks and home- makers.
Not Doctors, dentists,teachers, or other professionals.
It is beyond grim.

Women aren’t allowed to do these things.

Nice to see someone else on here who was out in Afghanistan. Were you serving on working with a NGO/charity? At least you will know first hand some of the issues, rather that just snippets you’ve read somewhere.

Where were you and when? Kandahar? Kabul, Bastion? Or somewhere else? Perhaps we met?!

Not being facetious, but it’s the opposite
Girls pretending to be boys, at least til puberty hits.
Think it’s called “ Bascha Posh” (?)
There are articles about it, and a very good, it traumatic film called “ Osama” about it.

Probably as many as would openly admit to being gay. Which isn't a good thing.

@DomesticShortHair are you being snippy or do you actually think there are solutions?

Totally agree. Didn't realise China support the Taliban as well as PP said that's a terrifying prospect. It's completely depressing- makes me fear a Handmaids Tail future full of Transwomen who do get to go to uni and be the "female" GPs nurses teachers etc.
Much as the gusset flashing isn't how we'd all like to debate things it does seem the louder you scream the more you're listened to. TRAs haven't been exactly civilised and look how what they've achieved with corporations and councils terrified of offending them, denying reality for a quiet life.
We need to be the same just as loud and get men to shout for us too - so many agree but don't realise the implications so stay quiet.
Need to support women all over the world to be brave and get good men on their side. Afghanistan Iran etc.
China is very scary- UK govt and all the others pander to them for trade deals as it is- would that change if they banned women's education?
How did #metoo make so much impact so quickly and yet this is where we are a few short years later?

Sorry but what does what's happening in Afghanistan have to do with the trans movement?