Food, Work and Freedom

I met 20 year old Mariam—not her real name–  she has participated in protests in the past few days. Mariam was getting her master in International Relations, but now she cannot continue her education nor work. She says “food, work, and freedom” is not the slogan of those women who ran projects in the name of women and were well-known in past the two decades. She argues the slogan is the voice of the women swamped by the cruelty of the Taliban. She adds that “food, work, and freedom” is the voice of empty-handed and rejected women who have suffered from deprivation and loneliness under Taliban rule.

Activists and other social active groups members celebrated November 25 – International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women -  while Afghan women faced restrictions imposed by the Taliban. After the takeover the Taliban put a stop to all Afghan women's demands, rights, and freedom, in line with their interpretation of Islam. The Taliban announced publicly that they have to observe women's rights according to Islam. But in the four months of their rule the level of poverty, hunger, unemployment, deprivation and suffering women suffer from has been increasing.

It was a sad and gloomy day when the Taliban replaced the Ministry of Women Affairs with Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. They then ordered all staff of Ministry of Women Affairs to return to their job. Closing down the Ministry of Women Affairs– a place women can go to in order to have their rights respected– implied the Taliban do not respect women's rights. In spite of the international community's pressure, the Taliban tried to ban women from all fields, ranging from economy to politics, and isolated them within the society, so that now women are protesting for their fundamental rights.

Four months after the fall of Kabul and under Taliban's rule most women - teachers, police officers, journalists, prosecutors, civil activists and more - have lost their job, some of them have fled the country and some others cannot even leave their home. Nevertheless, they play a role in society, from time to time they go out in the streets and protest against the Taliban chanting “food, work, and freedom.” Women suffered a lot in the traditional Afghan society: held captive to traditions, oppressed by a religious, patriarchal and misogynist society, they often lived in poverty and deprivation.

In the past two decades women fought to achieve important roles in politics and economy, they tried to change the law and traditional structures, but under the Taliban's rule all of these achievements are doomed.