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1 [1] (November 27, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goverkw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Infrnrning the legislitive debate since 1914 0 Updated November 27, 2024 Afghan Women and Girls: Status and Congressional Action Afghan women and girls live under what is considered to be the world's most repressive set of restrictions, ranging from Taliban prohibitions on employment and education opportunities to orders for women to hide their faces and voices in public. These Taliban policies 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 disagreement within the Taliban, the Taliban government has been unwavering in the implementation of these restrictions. Congressional attention to Afghan women and girls, a major focus of previous U.S.-led development efforts, goes back over two decades and has included numerous oversight and funding-related legislative measures. 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 Taliban 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 education, employment, and health care. For example, maternal mortality rates, while still high, were reportedly halved between 2001 and 2017. 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. Afghan women continued to lag behind Afghan men, as well as women globally, on many development indicators such as life expectancy and per capita income. Women under Renewed Taiban Rule Despite some initial signs of moderation immediately after returning to power, the Taliban have re-implemented many of the harsh restrictions on women and girls that characterized their 1996-2001 rule. Taliban edicts restricting on women's rights include prohibitions on women traveling without a male 'guardian' (mahram) and a ban on women visiting public parks and gyms. These were formalized in an August 2024 morality law that also includes directives that women cover their bodies and faces, and conceal their voices in public (the law also lays out dress and conduct requirements for men). The Taliban have also officially 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 international shock and condemnation. In December 2022, the Ministry of Higher Education also suspended women from attending university. 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 ordered all local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to dismiss their female employees or risk revocation of their licenses and in April 2023 further banned women from working for UN agencies in Afghanistan. Many implementing partners halted their work after the announcement of these restrictions, but some have since reportedly resumed some operations after reaching acceptable workarounds with local authorities. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power said in April 2024 that Taliban enforcement of edicts against women working for NGOs and the UN was uneven and that what our partners have done is find ways to maneuver around it, so as to ensure that women continue to be part of the delivery system in some form. While Taliban interference with humanitarian operations have negative implications for many Afghans, women and girls have been disproportionately affected by Afghanistan's economic collapse. Afghan women face more barriers to health care services, experience higher levels of unemployment, and adopt negative coping mechanisms (such as reducing food consumption, and selling belongings for food) at higher rates than men. Families may be increasing girls' early and forced marriages, and divorce is reportedly becoming more difficult for women to obtain. Services related to gender- based violence (GBV) have been significantly reduced. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) assessed in

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