Editing Taliban (section)

=== Oppression of women ===
{{Main|Treatment of women by the Taliban}}
{{further|Women in Afghanistan}}
[[File:Taliban beating woman in public RAWA.jpg|right|thumb|Taliban [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]] beating a woman in [[Kabul]] on 26 August 2001<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movies |url=http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325014821/http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-date=25 March 2009 |publisher=Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) |format=MPG}}</ref>]]

{{blockquote|To PHR's knowledge, no other régime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual [[house arrest]], prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment.<ref name="physicians">{{Cite web |title=The Taliban's War on Women |url=http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702234326/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |archive-date=2007-07-02 |access-date=2007-03-04}}, Physicians for Human Rights, August 1998.</ref>|Physicians for Human Rights|1998}}

[[File:RAWA protest rally against Taliban in Peshawar April28-1998.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan]] protesting against the Taliban, in [[Peshawar]], Pakistan in 1998]]
[[Taliban treatment of women|Brutal repression of women]] was widespread under the Taliban and it received significant international condemnation.<ref name="Forsythe3">{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=David P. |title=Encyclopedia of human rights |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-533402-9 |edition=Volume 1 |page=2 |quote=In 1994 the Taliban was created, funded and inspired by Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="Maley3">Dupree Hatch, Nancy. "Afghan Women under the Taliban" in Maley, William. ''Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban''. London: Hurst and Company, 2001, pp. 145–166.</ref><ref name="Wertheime">{{Cite book |last=Wertheime |first=Molly Meijer |title=Leading Ladies of the White House: Communication Strategies of Notable Twentieth-Century First Ladies |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7425-3672-2 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Cooke">{{Cite book |last=Cooke |first=Miriam |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 |title=Terror, Culture, Politics: 9/11 Reconsidere |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-253-34672-8 |editor-last=Sherman |editor-first=Daniel J. |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 177]}}</ref><ref name="Moghadam">{{Cite book |last=Moghadam |first=Valentine M. |url=https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 |title=Modernizing women: gender and social change in the Middle East |publisher=Lynne Rienner |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58826-171-7 |edition=2nd Revised |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 266]}}</ref><ref name="Massoumi">{{Cite book |last=Massoumi |first=Mejgan |title=The fundamentalist city?: religiosity and the remaking of urban space |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-77935-7 |editor-last=AlSayyad |editor-first=Nezar |page=223}}</ref><ref name="Skaine1">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=57}}</ref><ref>Rashid, Ahmed. ''Taliban''. Yale Nota Bene Books, 2000, pp. 70, 106 {{ISBN?}}.</ref><ref name="Skain">{{Cite book |last=Skain |first=Rosemarie |title=The women of Afghanistan under the Taliban |publisher=McFarland |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1090-3 |page=41}}</ref><ref>* {{cite news |last1=Gerstenzan |first1=James |last2=Getter |first2=Lisa |date=18 November 2001 |title=Laura Bush Addresses State of Afghan Women |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-18-mn-5602-story.html |access-date=14 September 2012}} * {{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords/womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=14 September 2012 |website=A Woman Among Warlords |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref>  Abuses were myriad and violently enforced by the [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Graham-Harrison |first1=Emma |last2=Makoii |first2=Akhtar Mohammad |date=9 February 2019 |title='The Taliban took years of my life': the Afghan women living in the shadow of war |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301200918/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |archive-date=1 March 2020}}</ref> For example, the Taliban issued edicts forbidding women from being educated, forcing girls to leave schools and colleges.<ref name="Women-Amnesty">{{Cite web |date=25 November 2014 |title=Women in Afghanistan: the back story |url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614193030/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |archive-date=14 June 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |publisher=Amnesty International}}</ref><ref name="women-StateDepartment">{{Cite web |date=17 November 2001 |title=Report on the Taliban's War Against Women |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711010830/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |archive-date=11 July 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |website=U.S. Department of State |publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor}}</ref><ref name="Rashid2">{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |title=Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86064-830-4 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Newsday 2001" /><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com" /><ref>{{cite news |title=U.N. says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda |date=8 January 1998 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leaf-chronicle-un-says-taliban-starv/145594960/|work=The Leaf-Chronicle |page=A9 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodson |first=Larry P. |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good |title=Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-295-98111-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good/page/121 121] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="NPR" /> Women who were leaving their houses were required to be accompanied by a male relative and were obligated to wear the ''[[burqa]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 August 2021 |title=Afghan women forced from banking jobs as Taliban take control |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |work=Reuters}}</ref> a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small slit out of which to see.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref name="women-StateDepartment" /> Those women who were accused of disobedience were publicly beaten. In one instance, a young woman named Sohaila was charged with adultery after she was caught walking with a man who was not a relative; she was publicly flogged in [[Ghazi Stadium]], receiving 100 lashes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 1998 |title=Woman flogged for adultery |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716223951/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |archive-date=16 July 2020}}</ref> Female employment was restricted to the medical sector, where male medical personnel were prohibited from treating women and girls.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feroz |first1=Emran |last2=Lakanwal |first2=Abdul Rahman |date=4 May 2020 |title=In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/04/afghanistan-taliban-girls-schools/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Foreign Policy }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=A Woman Among Warlords ~ Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/a-woman-among-warlords-womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Wide Angle}}</ref> This extensive ban on the employment of women further resulted in the widespread closure of primary schools, as almost all teachers prior to the Taliban's rise had been women, further restricting access to education not only to girls but also to boys. Restrictions became especially severe after the Taliban took control of the capital. In February 1998, for instance, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations which ordered people to blacken their windows so that women would not be visible from outside.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lacayo |first=Richard |date=25 November 2001 |title=About Face for Afghan Women |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222090147/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |archive-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>

====Ban on women's participation in the healthcare sector====
In December 2024, the Taliban's health ministry banned women from being trained in [[nursing]] and [[midwifery]], according to media reports confirmed by ''The Guardian''.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban">{{cite web|last1=Kumar|first1=Ruchi|last2=Joya|first2=Zahra|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/06/taliban-afghanistan-ban-women-training-nurses-midwives-outrageous-act-ignorance-human-rights-healthcare|title=Taliban move to ban women training as nurses and midwives 'an outrageous act of ignorance'|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2024-12-06|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref> This was a reversal of an earlier February 2024 decision to permit basic medical training for women.<ref name="NPR midwife ban">{{cite web|last=Kumar|first=Ruchi|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/12/04/g-s1-36765/afghanistan-taliban-women-nurses-midwives|title=Rights Group: Afghan women barred from studying nursing and midwifery|work=[[NPR]]|date=2024-12-04|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref> According to ''[[NPR]]'', the health ministry had lobbied for an exemption from the general ban on women's education in the healthcare sector because "in some provinces, the Taliban does not allow women to seek treatment from male medical professionals."<ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> The Taliban's ban on basic medical training for women was widely condemned by human rights organizations as a danger to the health and well-being of Afghan women and children, with Afghanistan already having among the [[List of countries by maternal mortality ratio|highest maternal mortality ratios in the world]] according to 2020 data, before the Taliban's 2021 seizure of power.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/><ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> For example, Heather Barr of Human Right Watch stated: "If you ban women from being treated by male healthcare professionals, and then you ban women from training to become healthcare professionals, the consequences are clear: women will not have access to healthcare and will die as a result."<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/> The [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] (OHCHR) stated that the ban "is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways."<ref>{{cite web|last=Mishra|first=Vibhu|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1157866|title=Afghanistan: UN condemns Taliban ban on women attending medical classes|publisher=[[United Nations]]|date=2024-12-05|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref>