Post the 2021 conflict in Afghanistan where the Taliban regained claim, they have decided to hold their first ever meeting to evaluate and assess the economic and social issues that have risen up since then. The meeting however does not include any Women.
Though the agenda of the meeting is yet unknown many await news on the Taliban’s decision on girls’ education and if it will be discussed. The particular issue of how there was commitment made towards allowing girls a right to secondary schools back in March of 2022. However, was taken back given disagreements between different parts of the group on whether girls should be allowed back.
In this era the lack of women representation in a meeting that discuss prime issues of the future of the country will lay severe consequences. The imbalance of gender exacerbates the divide that exists between men and women aggravating the issue of how girls are being held back from secondary education.
On March 23rd the Taliban went back on their decision of letting girls attain secondary education by turning them away at the gates the morning of. Holding back on promises made, severely affects the mental health of these young girls. A middle school student in Southeast Afghanistan said “In my dawn prayer, I praised Allah for answering my prayers to continue my studies … I walked to school as fast as I could, only to be turned away at gunpoint. The sadness and despair were overwhelming.”
Claiming to allow them back into an education system and then stripping them of the opportunity overwhelms individuals with sadness and despair. This only pushes girls further to the sidelines and holds them back from filling jobs that the Taliban currently allows women to have like doctors, nurses, and teachers.
The longer girls are held back the more time is lost of them being able to attain this education, reforms need to take place to allow girls in Afghanistan to not fall behind in a tool such as education that prospers the economic and social world.