Today's video is one that has been highly requested by you guys. We're going to be
exploring 10 Surprising and Interesting Facts About The Taliban in Relation to Women and
Women's Rights. Welcome back to FTD Facts. Leroy Kenton here. Just want to give you guys a heads
up that our goal here at FTD Facts is always to find a way to bring you the information that you
really want to know about. So, today's video, while potentially controversial, will focus completely
on facts and statistics, rather than opinion, bias, or prejudice. So, we're looking at women's rights
prior to the first regime of the Taliban, as well as during the first regime, and after, because now,
a new regime has been established. Okay, so starting off with fact number 10. Let's look at women and
the first regime. When the first Taliban regime last ruled Afghanistan, from the year 1996 - 2001,
women could not vote or work. Girls were not allowed to attend school, and women had to be fully
covered and be accompanied by a male relative outside of their homes. And as of the year 1998,
girls over the age of 8 years old had been prohibited from attending school. Homeschooling,
while it was sometimes tolerated, it was something that was sort of frowned upon either way. And
women were also prohibited from studying at the university of Kabul. Women were also given limited
access to health care and medical care, thereby endangering the health of women and in turn,
their families. In most hospitals, male physicians could only examine a female patient if she were
fully clothed, so accurate diagnosis and treatments were often completely missed. Now, for fact number 9 -
We got to look at the new regime and their promises. According to "The Times," in an interview
published on August 18th, 2021, the new regime vowed to respect women's rights, and forgive those who
fought them, and promote safety. In an interview Mr. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman
promised the Taliban would honor women's rights within the norms of Islamic law,
without elaborating further. The new regime has encouraged women to return to work and has allowed
girls to return to school. Now, in this new regime the Taliban have sought to portray themselves
as being more moderate, but the U.S National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan said that, "The
U.S and other governments will not necessarily simply take the Taliban at their word. When it
comes to women's rights, they want to see how they actually implement these laws. Next up, let's look
at women in the government. By the year 2020, 21% of Afghan civil servants were women, compared with
almost none during the Taliban years. 16% of them were in senior management levels, and 27% of Afghan
members of parliament were women. More recently, as of 2021, formal negotiations between the Afghan
government and the Taliban finally started. In September. The Afghan government has appointed
a 21-member negotiating team that includes 5 Afghan women. Afghanistan's President, Ashraf Ghani,
also established the "High Council For National Reconciliation," which is a higher supervisory body
to monitor and direct the negotiating team. Out of 46 appointed members, 9 of them are women.
So, it's no surprise that most Afghan commentators interpreted this as marginalizing Afghan women,
and only giving them representation in reserved seats, and that this reflects a 2001 Afghanistan
power structure, dominated by warlords and tribal elders. There's also no female representatives on
the Taliban's negotiating team. Moving on to number 7. The women appointed to the two government
bodies I mentioned earlier, are urban educated women, and some of whom held government positions,
and others who are members of civil society. They are to represent ALL afghan women. However,
what I found very surprising was that not all Afghan women feel connected or well represented
by these so-called urban women. Some from rural Afghanistan do not feel that urban elite women
necessarily speak for them. The preference of these rural women is attaining peace even if it means
sacrificing some formal women's rights. To put this into perspective by the way, it is estimated that
76% of Afghan women live in rural communities. Okay guys, so since I mentioned the difference between
urban and rural perspectives in our last fact, I want to elaborate a little bit more on this.
It has been reported that Afghan women as a whole, have benefited from the post-regime rise
in women's rights, and access to opportunities. However, it is also said that these gains for
women have been distributed unequally, with the increase for women in urban areas being higher
than the rural women. For many rural women, life has not changed much from the Taliban era. They
are still fully dependent on men in their families for permission to access health care, attend
school, and work. Typically, families allow their girls to have a primary or secondary education,
usually up to the age of puberty, and then will proceed with arranged marriages. Even if a young
woman is granted permission to attend a university by her male guardian, her father or future husband
may not permit her to work after graduation. Also, due to the fact that much of the war has occurred
in rural areas of the country, many rural women have suffered the loss of husbands, brothers, and
fathers. And the International Crisis Group Report, based on interviews with Afghan women in the fall
of 2019 and the summer of 2020, showed, and I quote, "Peace is an absolute priority for some
rural women. Even a peace deal very much on the Taliban terms." Alright guys, we have five more
facts to look at relating to the Taliban and women to go, but before I get into the last 5,
just wanna let you know that we did a dedicated video specifically on the Taliban. You guys don't
want to miss that one. I'll link to it below in the video description section. A lot of information in
there for you guys. I think you guys are going to find it very eye-opening. So again, I'll link to it
below in the video description section, where you can enjoy it after this one. Now, fact number 5
looks at education for women. In the poorest and remote areas of the country, enrollment levels vary
and girls still lack equal access to education. The underlying reason for low girls enrollment
is insecurity and traditional norms and practices related to girls and women's roles in society.
Other reasons can be explained in part by a lack of female teachers, especially in rural schools.
Only 16% of Afghan schools are girls only, and many of them lack proper sanitation facilities.
Certain cultural practices also affect girls' education. Girls continue to marry very young.
17% by the way, marry before their 15th birthday. Under the Taliban regime, they have implemented
their interpretation of Sharia Law, and education for women and girls was forbidden under almost all
circumstances. Now, after the regime in 2003, fewer than 10% of girls were enrolled in primary schools
and by 2017, that number had grown to 33% while, female enrollment in secondary schools grew from
6% percent in 2003 to 39% in 2017. So, these stats mean that 3.5 million Afghan girls were in school
with 100,000 studying in universities. So, you can see that big increase that happened.
Now, when it comes to women's health during the first regime, it was said that Afghanistan
struggled with a collapsed healthcare system, with essentially no medical services available for
women. Post-regime initiatives though, it constructed 3,135 functional health facilities by
2018, and this gave 87% of Afghan people access to a medical facility within two hours distance. As a
result, women's life expectancy grew from 56 years in 2001 to 66 years in 2017, and their mortality
during childbirth declined from 1,100 per 100,000 live births in the year 2000 to 396 per 100,000 in
2015. And real quick, I want to look at women in the workforce. In early July 2021, members of the
new regime walked into the offices of Azizi Bank, in the southern city of Kandahar, and ordered 9
women working there to leave. According to three of the women involved, as well as the bank's manager,
the members escorted the women to their homes and told them not to return to their jobs. Instead, they
explained that male relatives could take their place. And one of the women who had worked in the
accounts department stated that, and I quote, "It's really strange to not be allowed to get to work,
but now this is what it is. I taught myself English, and even learned how to operate a computer.
But now, I will have to look for a place where I can just work with more women around. Fact number
2 leads us to modesty expectations. In the first regime, specifically in urban areas, the Taliban
enforced a dress code that required women to be covered under a burqa. And, while the burqa existed
prior to the Taliban, its use was not mandatory. However, the Taliban enforced the wearing of the burqa.
The showing of ankles, feet, hands, and of course, the face of a woman, was not allowed in public
Even girls as young as eight or nine years old were expected to wear the burqa. Now, under this
new Taliban regime, the Taliban has stated that women will no longer be required to wear the burqa
in public. Instead, girls and women will be required to wear the hijab for their safety in public. And
finally, the fact to end off on, is a fact from the male perspective about this. So, this is pretty
surprising. In a recent study by "UN Women and Partners," showed that only 15% of Afghan men
think women should be allowed to work outside of their home after marriage. And two-thirds of men
complain Afghan women now have too many rights. So, with this information, although we cannot say
for certain, it appears as though, under the new regime, women may be allowed to work, as long as
it is in line with the majority male opinion. And that's where we'll end this episode off. Really
hope you stuck around till the end so you didn't miss any of this information. As always, I want to
hear your thoughts and comments down below. Leave a like before you get on out of here. And, if this is
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are posted. Until next time guys, stay awesome, stay educated! I'll see you soon.
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