Taliban bans women from training as nurses and midwives
This was the only path left for girls who had been excluded from other fields, say students in Afghanistan
www.telegraph.co.uk
Taliban bans women from training as nurses and midwives
This was the only path left for girls who had been excluded from other fields, say students in Afghanistan
George Johnson New Delhi
04 December 2024 3:22pm GMT
An Afghan woman is checked by a nutritionist at a clinic run by the World Food Programme in Kabul Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo
The Taliban has banned women from training as nurses and midwives in Afghanistan, striking another blow to female health and education.
The ban was announced on Monday during a meeting in Kabul by officials from the ministry of public health, acting on orders from Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader.
The directive blocks women from attending medical training institutes and applies to both private and government-run institutions.
It means women will no longer be able to enter work in critical fields including midwifery, nursing, dentistry and laboratory sciences, effective from Dec 3, further restricting opportunities for Afghan women.
Afghan female students gather outside the Omid Institute of Health Sciences in Kabul Credit: WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images
One doctor, who works in a blood bank in a public hospital in Kabul, where women have been barred from continuing their laboratory technician course, said that Bakht-ur-Rehman Sharafat, deputy minister of health, informed the heads of all medical institutes about the Taliban’s order to stop girls’ education in both private and public institutes.
For many women, medical education had been a final hope for professional advancement after previous bans curtailed access to other educational opportunities.
Zainab, a dentistry student at a private institute in Kabul, said the ban was devastating. “This was the only path left for girls who had been excluded from other fields. Now, even that has been taken away,” she said.
Videos began appearing on X, formerly Twitter, and other social media platforms from Kabul, Badakhshan and Faryab. In each, the same scenes: female students standing outside their institutes, pleading with Taliban officials, only to be turned away.
In one video, female students at the Badakhshan Medical Institute in Afghanistan are seen crying in the hallways and singing in Persian: “Come, oh sky, and weep with me.”
In another video students are seen weeping as they left classrooms, some quietly singing as a form of protest. “You aren’t weak, calm down,” a female instructor consoles her students in one of the videos.
A Taliban official at a medical college in Afghanistan’s Kapisa province announces in another clip that women are no longer allowed to continue their studies amid cries and sobs from the students.
“Attending these classes was a lifeline for us. Now, we don’t know what to do,” one student said, adding that staff warned them not to gather outside for fear of attracting Taliban officials.
Women will no longer be able to attend medical training institutes Credit: SAMIULLAH POPAL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The ban has immediate and long-term implications for Afghanistan’s already strained healthcare system.
The country needs thousands more midwives and nurses to meet its population’s needs, according to international health organisations.
It faces one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally, with the World Health Organisation reporting 620 deaths per 100,000 live births.
Female healthcare workers are critical to addressing this crisis, especially as male doctors are often prohibited from treating female patients.
A health ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision would worsen staffing shortages.
“We are already struggling to provide adequate care, particularly for women,” they said. “This ban will make things even worse.”
The ban was called an ‘affront to women’s right to education’ Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo
The Taliban’s restrictions on women’s education have drawn widespread condemnation.
Robert C dikkson, the United Kingdom’s chargé d’affaires to Afghanistan, said he was concerned about the news reports that Taliban will deny medical education to women in Afghanistan.
“This is another affront to women’s right to education and will further restrict access to healthcare for Afghan women and children,” he wrote on X.
An outdoor girls’ classroom in Torkham, Afghanistan Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo
Winston Peters, New Zealand’s foreign minister, said that the country supports international efforts to hold the Taliban accountable for their treatment of women.
Heather Barr, the interim women’s rights deputy director of Human Rights Watch, said the new decree will result in unnecessary pain, misery, sickness, and death for the women forced to go without healthcare, as there will not be female healthcare workers to treat them.
While the Taliban has claimed that these bans are intended to align education with Islamic principles, critics argue that the policies are aimed at systematically excluding women from public life.
‘Gender apartheid’
Observers have described the restrictions as “gender apartheid”, noting that they undermine not just women’s rights but the broader development of Afghan society.
For many Afghan women, the ban represents yet another obstacle in a series of systematic exclusions. “This is not just about education,” a healthcare expert said.
“It’s about the survival of women in Afghanistan, who are being left without access to care, support, or opportunities for the future.”
