Liberals give $17 million to Afghan women's education — problem is, Taliban have banned it

Afghanistan receives a fair amount of money from Canada in attempts to improve women's rights— although, it is questionable whether Afghan women can even use the money for its intended purpose. The Taliban, which has taken over Afghanistan's government since back in 2021, has created multiple laws restricting the rights of women.Reported by the Times of India, the Taliban banned all education for girls past Grade six, as of 2022. This includes universities, including options for education, nursing, and midwifery all being banned to teach women.According to United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 7% of women worked outside of the household in 2024, with Taliban work restrictions projected to cost the Afghan economy $920 million between 2024 and 2026. .One grant Canada has offered to Afghanistan — totaling $17 million — is supposed to increase female employment.The grant is expected to be dispersed between 2025 to 2029, and is called the "Resilient and Strong: Empowering Women through TVET in Afghanistan."The feds claim the money will go to "improv[ing] the economic resilience of Afghan women by facilitating employment and livelihoods opportunities in the health and early childhood development sectors."To be specific, they plan to do the following:.1. Provide vocational and work-ready training to prepare women for work opportunities — to increase women's participation in health and early childhood development sectors. 2. Teaching entrepreneurial skills to women so they can start their own businesses.3. Raise awareness among the community (especially men) of the importance of "inclusive employment" and women's access to services, supposedly encouraging the reduction of barriers in women's employment and livelihoods. But there is a disconnect — not only are women no longer able to have an education in midwifery and nursing, the early childhood and healthcare sectors, there are many restrictions surrounding women's ability to work..For one, women have been mostly fired, forced to stay home, or taken a pay slash from work under the Taliban. Private offices may employ women, but they must be segregated.Women can still work in education and health — but even this is difficult.According to an NPR report from last week, the laws surrounding women having to cover their entire bodies, including their face, like with burkas, make any job difficult. .Recounting a story from the city of Herat, one anonymous healthcare worker said they witnessed female staff at the hospital waiting outside of the entrance for hours, waiting for colleagues on the night shift to hand over their burkas so they could enter.Another report by Human Rights Watch, stated a female surgeon was detained for several hours for not wearing a burka.Even though females working in healthcare is allowed, it's restricted, in what seems to be a strategy to hinder female workers from doing their jobs.Another hindrance — women commuting to their jobs..According to an anonymous male health worker at the Herat hospital, government agents have banned women in the city from riding shared minibuses with men.This ban, according to another female medic, drove up the price for riding all-women buses from 50 cents to $1.60.And sometimes the minibuses refused women altogether because of scrutiny and delays at Taliban checkpoints where agents interrogate women on buses. Two female workers at the hospitals say they have to walk to work due to high bus prices, taking an hour to walk both ways. ."I think they want women not to leave the house at all," stated one health worker.All to say — where is the money Canada promised to increase women's rights in Afghanistan going?Certainly not to help them commute to work or improve their quality of life. Nor negotiating the current constraints on women healthcare workers entering their own place of work without having their entire bodies covered..And of course, the feds do not seem to be helping women receive education in the sectors they claim — due to the laws that restrict that education.

Liberals give $17 million to Afghan women's education — problem is, Taliban have banned it

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