Bread & Roses

As the Taliban moves to ban women from becoming doctors, nurses or midwives in a bid to remove them from public spaces, Afghan women wonder how they will survive at all

- Rakhi Bose

SARA, 25, a mother of two from Band-e Amir, in Afghanistan's remote Bamyan district, suffers from low blood pressure. She recently visited a community health facility in Yakawalang, in the same district, run by an international NGO. There, Najiba, a midwife dedicated to maternal health, has been treating her, earning her livelihood through the clinic.

The future of both women-Sara and Najiba-along with millions of others in Afghanistan, now hangs in the balance following the Taliban's recent diktats against women. The diktats ban them from studying in medical institutes or pursuing midwifery courses and from working for national or international NGOs.

Amreen* (name changed) was devastated when she heard about the new ban. She had been training as a nurse and midwife at one of the centres run by the Taliban in Badakhshan province and was just about to complete her course last December. Then came the announcement, prohibiting one of the few professions still available to Afghan women since the Taliban took control in 2021.

"Since women were barred from university and higher education, I started training as a nurse to earn a living and support my family. I don't know what I'll do now," she says. Amreen is one of thousands of women thrown into despair by this latest blow to Afghan women's rights.

"Women are not allowed to attend secondary school, university or medical institutes. If we can't even become nurses or midwives, how will we survive or earn? And who will provide healthcare and maternal services to Afghan women in the future? Who will deliver Afghan babies and relieve women from pain? Do we not even have the right to survive anymore?" Amreen asks.