[women-rights] Afghanistan: New limits on female education

In Western Province of Herat, School Restrictions; Gender Segregation

(New York, January 16, 2003) — Newly announced rules on female education
in the western Afghan province of Herat prohibit men from teaching women
or girls in private educational courses and uphold strict gender
segregation in all schools, Human Rights Watch said today.  Because of a
shortage of female teachers, the restrictions will result in a severe
limitation on the ability of women and girls to receive proper
education.

The rules were announced on January 10, 2003 by the deputy head of
Herat's educational department, Mohammad Deen Fahim.  Fahim said that
current teaching methods allowing men to teach women and girls are "in
contradiction with Islamic law."  The governor of Herat, Ismail Khan,
who approves all government decrees, has ordered increasing restrictions
on women and girls over the last year.

"Girls and women are trying to make up for years of school lost under
the Taliban," said Zama Coursen-Neff, counsel to Human Rights Watch's
children's rights division.  "These new restrictions may make it
impossible for many to achieve that."

Under the Taliban, women and girls across Afghanistan were forbidden
from attending universities and almost all schools.

Until last week, many women and girls in Herat attended private
educational courses to supplement their public schooling, especially in
foreign language and computer skills.  Public schools and universities
in Herat are currently closed for the winter.  Almost all private
educational courses in Herat are taught by men.  As a result, the new
prohibition will effectively exclude women and girls from most courses.

  "Ismail Khan has acknowledged that there is a shortage of women
teachers in Herat but says he is providing girls with education," said
Coursen-Neff.  "These new restrictions show just how shallow that claim
is."

In December 2002, Human Rights Watch issued a 52-page report on
extensive and increasing restrictions on women and girls in Herat.  The
report, "We Want to Live as

Humans: Repression of Women and Girls in Western Afghanistan,"
documented a catalogue of Taliban-era restrictions imposed on women and
girls' freedom of work, education, movement and political
participation.  The report described how women and girls seen alone with
unrelated men, even walking on the street or riding in a taxi, are taken
to hospitals for gynecological examinations to determine if they have
recently had sexual intercourse.

"The Taliban are gone, but government officials and soldiers are still
sidelining, abusing and harassing women and girls in Herat,"
Coursen-Neff said.

Ismail Khan has specifically denied past allegations by Human Rights
Watch about the rights situation in Herat.

Noting that international actors are providing substantial educational
assistance in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch called on the United
Nations Mission in Afghanistan and all donors and nations involved in
Afghanistan to increase pressure on the Herat government to rescind its
restrictions on women and girls.

Afghanistan: Women Still Not "Liberated"
HRW Press Release, December 17, 2002
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/12/herat1217.htm

"We Want to Live As Humans:" Repression of Women and Girls in Western 
Afghanistan
HRW Report, December 17, 2002
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2002/afghnwmn1202/