She’s a young student in Afghanistan who graduated high school 3 years early at age 15. For years, she’s dreamed of becoming an engineer, both to rebuild her country and to prove that women could work in what’s often seen there as a male field.
M.H., who requested anonymity fearing Taliban reprisal for speaking to the press and criticizing their policy, was inches from reaching her goal this past December. But days after she completed requirements for a civil engineering degree, the Taliban banned women from universities. Her gender torpedoed her dream.
The Taliban “decided to withhold our diplomas just because we are women,” M.H. told NPR. “Now I cannot even apply for any further education because I have no document to prove that I finished my engineering degree.” To have any hope of leaving and establishing a career abroad, or even of working in a future Afghanistan where the Taliban are no longer in power, she’s relying on the one alternative available to her — making a second attempt to earn a bachelor’s degree by taking online classes in computer science from a university in the U.S.
Enrollment in college in Afghanistan has historically been low for women and men. While exact figures aren’t known, M.H. is one of an estimated 90,000 women impacted by the ban. Many of them are now turning to digital spaces for alternatives. It’s not an ideal path. Obstacles abound, from erratic internet connectivity to a lack of jobs for women to aspire to.
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban have curtailed women’s rights. Women cannot travel without a male guardian and have few work options. Most girls have been forbidden to attend high school since the takeover. Fewer than 12 percent of Afghan women feel treated with respect and dignity, according to a recent Gallup survey. Those women who express dissent against Taliban authorities are met with violent suppression of their protests, as well as imprisonment, intimidation and even torture, forcing many to flee the country.
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