Editing Taliban (section)

====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>