AFGHANISTAN: In a new effort, the Kabul municipality has taken steps to remove the photos of women on storefronts in the capital city, Tolo News reported.
The spokesman of Kabul municipality, Nematullah Barakzai, said the Government has ordered the municipality’s officials to remove all photos of women from signboards at shops and business centers in Kabul.
Meanwhile, the owners of beauty salons in Kabul criticized the decision of the Islamic Emirate, and asked the government to not impose restrictions on their business.
This comes as international organisations have repeatedly called on the Taliban to not ignore the rights of women and to not marginalize women from the society. But the Islamic Emirate claims that it already respects women based on Islamic principles.
Meanwhile, the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August this year has deprived more than half of Afghan journalists of their jobs as over 40% of media outlets that were functional in the war-ravaged country had stopped operations. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA), which conducted a survey on the plight of Afghan journalists, said on Wednesday that since August 84% of women journalists and media workers have become unemployed due to restrictions.
“A total of 231 media outlets have been closed and more than 6,400 journalists have lost their jobs since August 15. Women journalists have been hit the hardest, with four out of five no longer working,” the survey revealed.
Of the 543 media outlets operating at the start of summer 2021, only 312 were still operating at the end of November. “More than four out of every 10 media outlets have disappeared and 60% of journalists and media employees are no longer able to work. Women have suffered much more than men…,” the survey report read.
– THE STATESMAN, TIMES OF INDIA