Taliban authorities reacted angrily to UN claims that they are denying Afghan women the right to work, despite the fact that thousands of them are engaged in the public sector.
On Tuesday, Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Sharafuddin Sharaf said that many women were receiving pay while not showing up for work since offices were not set up for effective gender separation.
He stated, “Working together in one office is not possible in our Islamic system.”
According to Sharaf, some women only go to their respective offices once a week to sign their attendance and their salaries are paid at their houses.
He noted that this occurs in workplaces where “gender-based segregation is yet to be done” and that women were employed in the interior, health, and education ministries, all of which have a need for them.
There have been a number of demonstrations by women in the last two months seeking the right to work in response to the loss of their jobs.
This statement comes a day after a United Nations rights expert claimed that since the Taliban’s return to power in August, there has been a “staggering regression” of women’s rights.
