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1 1 (January 10, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govekdz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gre &ionaI Resedrch S& Inf ormning helegisIltive debate sine 191I Updated January 10, 2023 Afghan Women and Girls: Status and Congressional Action Since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the already precarious status of Afghan women and girls has deteriorated dramatically. Increasing Taliban restrictions are severely reducing the ability of women to participate in Afghan public life. These restrictions appear likely to deepen Afghanistan's intersecting economic and humanitarian crises, which have disproportionately affected women and girls. Despite near universal condemnation, including from U.S. adversaries, and reported disagreements within the Taliban about the advisability of these policies, the Taliban government has been unwavering in their implementation. Congressional attention to Afghan women and girls, a major focus of previous U.S.-led development efforts, goes back over two decades and includes numerous oversight and funding- related legislative measures. Going forward, Congress may examine the impact of these measures and consider other actions to support Afghan women and girls. The Taliban's evident willingness to accept international opprobrium and isolation as the price of their oppressive policies is likely to complicate U.S. policy options. Background on the Status of Women Decades of war after 1978 and the repressive five-year rule of the Taliban (1996-2001) severely undermined the rights and development of Afghan women. During their prior rule, the Taliban perpetrated egregious acts of violence as part of a war against women, according to a 2001 State Department report. Based on their particularly conservative and culturally influenced interpretation of Islamic practice, the Taliban prohibited women from working, attending school after age eight, and appearing in public without a male blood relative and without wearing a burqa. Women accused of breaking these or other restrictions suffered severe corporal or capital punishment, often publicly. The United States and many other countries condemned these practices. After the Taliban were removed from power and replaced with a U.S.-backed government in 2001, Afghan women made advancements in areas such as political representation, education, employment, and health care. The former Afghan government, with U.S. and international support, ensured representation for women in government and instituted some legal protections. Still, surveys suggested that traditional, restrictive views of gender roles and rights, including some views consistent with Taliban practices, remained pervasive, especially in rural areas and among younger men. Discrimination, harassment, and violence against women reportedly was endemic in government-controlled areas and in government ministries. Afghan women continued to lag behind Afghan men, as well as women globally, on many development indicators tracked by the World Bank and other international organizations, such as life expectancy and gross national income per capita. Maternal mortality rates, while still high, were reportedly halved between 2001 and 2017. In the years before their August 2021 takeover, the Taliban did not describe in detail what role women might play in a Taliban-governed society. In February 2020, deputy Taliban leader Sirajuddin Haqqani wrote of an Islamic system ... where the rights of women that are granted by Islam-from the right to education to the right to work- are protected. Skeptics noted that pledges to safeguard the rights of women according to Islam were subjective and echoed similar pledges made by the Taliban while previously in power. Wormen under Renewed Taliban Rule Despite some initial signs of moderation immediately after returning to power, the Taliban appear to be re- implementing the harsh restrictions on women and girls that characterized their 1996-2001 rule. Taliban restrictions on women's rights announced since 2021 include: a December 2021 prohibition on women driving more than 45 miles without a male relative (the Taliban reportedly started denying drivers' licenses to women in May 2022) and a March 2022 prohibition on women flying without a male relative; a May 2022 decree mandating women be fully covered in public with punishments for male relatives of women deemed not in compliance; and a November 2022 decision to ban women from public parks in Kabul. The Taliban have also severely restricted women and girls' access to education. In March 2022, the Taliban backtracked on previous promises to allow girls to attend school by keeping girls' secondary schools closed, prompting shock and condemnation from many countries. In December 2022, the Ministry of Higher Education also suspended women from attending university. Media accounts also indicated that the Taliban dismissed some female elementary school teachers. Some Afghan women have reportedly continued to provide informal education to girls in private secret schools. In some areas, particularly where Taliban support has traditionally been lower and where local populations support girls' education, secondary schools for girls have remained open. In December 2022, the Taliban-run Ministry of Economy ordered all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to dismiss their female employees or risk revocation of their licenses. In response, major foreign aid groups such as Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee announced that they would suspend

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