KABUL — Dengan sedikit peluang pekerjaan yang tersedia untuk wanita Afghanistan di bawah pemerintahan Taliban, Ayesha Azimi dapat kekal aktif secara profesional sebagai seorang guru pengajian agama — peranan yang kini sedang beliau perjuangkan dalam menghadapi undang-undang “maksiat dan kebajikan” yang diumumkan baru-baru ini.
Hak wanita Afghanistan telah disekat sejak Taliban menguasai Afghanistan tiga tahun lalu.
Wanita dan kanak-kanak perempuan secara beransur-ansur dilarang daripada menghadiri sekolah menengah dan universiti, menjalankan kebanyakan bentuk pekerjaan bergaji, melancong tanpa ahli keluarga lelaki, dan menghadiri ruang awam.
Satu-satunya institusi pendidikan awam yang dibenarkan untuk wanita ialah madrasah – sekolah Islam yang memberi tumpuan kepada latihan agama. Di bawah peraturan baharu yang diperkenalkan bulan lalu oleh Kementerian Penyebaran Kebajikan dan Pencegahan Maksiat yang dikendalikan Taliban, sekolah agama juga kini sukar diakses.
Ayesha yang mengajar di sebuah madrasah di Kabul berkata, dia tidak lagi boleh pergi ke sana sendiri apabila suaminya bekerja.
“Minggu lalu, ketika saya pergi ke madrasah, saya menghabiskan lebih sejam di jalan raya untuk mendapatkan teksi, tetapi pemandu tidak mahu memberi tumpangan kepada wanita kerana takut kepada Taliban. Saya terpaksa menelefon suami saya untuk datang menjemput saya dengan motosikalnya,” katanya kepada Arab News.
“Kakitangan Kementerian Penyebaran Kebajikan dan Pencegahan Maksiat di kawasan itu memberitahu pemandu teksi supaya tidak mengambil mana-mana wanita tanpa penjaga lelaki jika tidak mereka akan didenda dan dihukum.”
Seperti kebanyakan wanita Afghanistan yang lain, Ayesha percaya peraturan itu mengurangkan nilai mereka sebagai ahli masyarakat.
“Kebanyakan wanita telah mematuhi hijab yang betul, terutama dalam tempoh tiga tahun lalu, tetapi masih terdapat peningkatan sekatan ke atas wanita, mengehadkan peranan mereka dalam masyarakat,” katanya.
“Rasanya wanita tidak mempunyai nilai dan sumbangan dalam masyarakat, sedangkan secara tradisinya Islam memberikan wanita peranan dan tanggungjawab yang penting.”
Bagi Jamila Haqmal, 24 tahun, yang tinggal di ibu negara, sekatan baharu itu, selain daripada yang sudah sedia ada, menyebabkan wanita bergantung sepenuhnya kepada saudara lelaki — situasi yang mustahil bagi banyak orang sejak beberapa dekad perang telah meninggalkan Afghanistan dengan satu bilangan balu tertinggi.
“Sesetengah keluarga tidak mempunyai penjaga lelaki sama sekali,” katanya.
“Saya bimbang wanita yang tidak mempunyai penjaga lelaki dalam keluarga. Mereka perlu bergantung kepada lelaki lain untuk mendapatkan sokongan atau menghadapi pelbagai masalah dalam kehidupan seharian mereka. Sebenarnya tiada pilihan lain.”
Undang-undang baharu itu telah dibandingkan dengan peraturan kejam yang diperkenalkan Taliban ketika mereka memerintah negara itu buat kali pertama pada akhir 1990-an. Peraturan itu berlaku sehingga ia digulingkan oleh pencerobohan yang diketuai AS pada tahun 2001.
Selepas 20 tahun berperang dan kehadiran tentera asing, kerajaan Afghanistan yang disokong Barat tumbang apabila AS berundur dari negara itu dan Taliban menguasai semula pada Ogos 2021. Tidak lama selepas itu, mereka mula memperkenalkan sekatan yang menyerupai tempoh pertama mereka berkuasa.
“Sifat sistem dan dasar ideologi mereka tetap sama. Walau bagaimanapun, terdapat beberapa perbezaan dalam layanan. Walaupun undang-undang itu telah disahkan, mereka menggunakan pendekatan yang agak ringan dalam pelaksanaannya,” kata Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, seorang profesor sains politik di Universiti Salam di Kabul, kepada Arab News.
Undang-undang baharu itu mengandungi peruntukan umum dan sering samar-samar mengenai pelbagai topik, termasuk kod pakaian dan penampilan lelaki dan wanita, perjalanan dan suara wanita, media, serta ketetapan berkaitan orang bukan Islam yang tinggal sementara atau tetap di negara ini.
Ia mempunyai beberapa kekaburan undang-undang, meninggalkan ruang untuk pelbagai tafsiran.
Naseer berkata, kelemahan terbesarnya ialah hukuman kerana melanggar undang-undang diserahkan kepada budi bicara penguatkuasa.
“Sebelum ini sekatan itu berbentuk dekri. Sekarang ia (telah mengambil) bentuk undang-undang dan mempunyai badan penguatkuasaan khusus, perkara mungkin menjadi lebih sukar bagi wanita,” kata Naseer.
“Hasilnya sudah jelas, kerana bilangan keluarga yang pergi ke taman awam telah menurun dengan ketara.”
AN
What new Taliban morality law means for Afghan women
KABUL — With few employment possibilities available to Afghan women under Taliban rule, Ayesha Azimi was able to remain professionally active as a religious studies teacher — a role she is now struggling to keep in the face of a recently announced “vice and virtue” law.
The rights of Afghan women have been curtailed since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan three years ago.
Women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, traveling without a male family member, and attending public spaces.
The only remaining public educational institutions allowed for women have been madrasas — Islamic schools that focus on religious training. Under the new rules introduced last month by the Taliban-run Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, even religious schools are now difficult to access.
Azimi, who was teaching at a madrasa in Kabul, said that she can no longer go there on her own when her husband is at work.
“Last week, when I was going to the madrasa, I spent more than an hour on the road to get a taxi, but the drivers didn’t want to give women a ride, fearing the Taliban. I had to call my husband to come and pick me up with his motorbike,” she told Arab News.
“The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice staff in the area told taxi drivers to not pick up any woman without a male guardian otherwise they will be fined and punished.”
Like many other Afghan women, Azimi believes the rules are reducing their value as members of society.
“Most women have been observing proper hijab, particularly during the past three years, but there are still increasing restrictions on women, limiting their role in the society,” she said. “It feels like women have no value and contribution in society, while traditionally Islam gave women an important role and responsibility.”
For Jamila Haqmal, a 24-year-old living in the capital, the new restrictions, on top of those already in place, leave women entirely dependent on male relatives — a situation impossible for many since decades of war have left Afghanistan with one the highest numbers of widows.
“Some families don’t have a male caretaker at all,” she said. “I am worried for women who don’t have a male caretaker in the family. They will have to rely on other men for support or face numerous problems in their daily life. There’s actually no other option.”
The new law has been compared to the draconian regulations the Taliban introduced when they ruled the country for the first time in the late 1990s. The rules were in place until they were ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001.
After 20 years of war and foreign military presence, Afghanistan’s Western-backed government collapsed as the US withdrew from the country and the Taliban regained control in August 2021. Shortly afterwards, they began to introduce restrictions resembling those of their first stint in power.
“The nature of the system and their ideological policy remain the same. However, there are some differences in treatment. Even though the law has been ratified, they use a relatively mild approach in its implementation,” Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, a professor of political sciences at Salam University in Kabul, told Arab News.
The new law contains general and often vague provisions on a variety of topics, including men’s and women’s dress codes and appearance, women’s travel and voice, media, as well as rulings related to non-Muslims residing temporarily or permanently in the country.
It has several legal ambiguities, leaving space for multiple interpretations.
Nawidy said that its biggest shortcoming is that punishments for violating the law are left to the enforcer’s discretion.
“Previously, the restrictions were in the form of decrees. Now that it (has taken) the form of a law and has a specific enforcement body, things might get even more difficult for women,” Nawidy said.
“The results are already evident, as the number of families going to public parks has decreased significantly.”
AN
