Only job for women is cleaning female bathrooms, says Kabul's acting mayor: Report

In the latest sign of Taliban gradually veering away from their initial assurance of respecting women's rights, Kabul's acting Mayor Hamdullah Nohmani has been quoted as saying that only those women who were doing jobs males couldn't do were allowed by Taliban to return to work. He mentioned "female public toilets in bazaars" while referring to such jobs  

"Initially we allowed all of them to be present at their duties on time, but then the Islamic Emirate decided it was necessary that for some time their work must stop," he said as per CNN, "Then we only allowed those females whom we needed, I mean for jobs which males couldn't do, or which is not a man's job ... For example, there are public female toilets in bazaars."

The mayor has announced an order instructing women to stay home and only those whose jobs can't be done by men to go on duty.

Also Read | Afghan women take to streets in Kabul, vow to fight for rights

After they captured power in Afghanistan, the Taliban said that they would respect women's rights in accordance with the Sharia. Although they said that women could attend universities, the gradual steps taken in due course of time raised many questions.

Images of male and female university students seperated by a partition in a classroom made news everywhere.

On Friday, the education ministry ordered male secondary school students and teachers to go back to school. No mention was made of girl students. This has raised fears that Taliban may once again take a stand against women's education.

Kabul mayor's words came on the same day when Afghan women took to street to demand their rights. Over a dozen women held placards and marched on Kabul street on Sunday (September 19).