A year after public sector female workers were banned from government work and forced to stay at home, the Taliban has instructed women working at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance to send male relatives to do their job.
Shortly after the Taliban seized control in August 2021, women employed in government positions were fired and given significantly lower pay to do nothing.
According to a report by The Guardian, the Taliban contacted up to 60 female employees in Afghanistan’s finance ministry and asked them to send a male relative to take their position because the pressure in the office has increased.
They made note of the years they had spent working in highly specialized positions and voiced concern and insecurity about the future.
The Human Resources division of the ministry called Maryam, a 37-year-old long-time employee of the Afghan finance ministry.
According to her assertion to The Guardian, “I was asked to recommend a male family member to replace me at the ministry so that I could be sacked from the job.”
The Ministry of Finance and the Department of Revenue is an office that requires the employees to study related subjects in universities to be recruited; however, the Taliban do not want educated women to come to work anymore and instead introduce male workers.
After taking power last year, the Islamist group has enacted several edicts that restrict women’s rights and freedoms, despite initial claims that they would be more progressive than during their previous rule
Along with travel restrictions, the requirement to wear the hijab, and the gender-segregated dining policy, Afghan girls in some provinces have been prohibited from attending school for more than a year.
