With the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021 and an extremely strict interpretation of Islam, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where middle, high and high schools are banned for girls.
At age 13, Zainab had to buy a new uniform for the start of the school year this fall. But not seeing schools for girls reopened under the Taliban regime, the young Afghan woman had to opt for a white dress instead. Since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in August 2021, banning secondary schools (middle and high school) for teenage girls, many of them have been forced to marry, often to much older men chosen by their fathers.
“I cried a lot and kept telling my father that the Taliban were going to reopen schools for girls,” said Zainab from the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. “But he replied that it would not happen, and that it would be better for me to marry than to remain idle at home.” Her marriage was sealed a few hours after the groom-to-be’s arrival with some sheep and goats, as well as four sacks of rice as a dowry for the woman’s family.
“No one asked my opinion”
As tradition dictates, Zeinab has moved in with her in-laws, where she lives with her husband, who is 17 years her senior. “Nobody asked me my opinion,” he explains. And add: “I woke up late at my parents’ house,” the young woman continues. Everyone scolds me here. They tell me: “We spent so much on you, and you don’t know anything.”
With the Taliban’s return to power and an extremely strict interpretation of Islam, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where secondary school is banned for girls. In a deeply patriarchal society hit by the economic crisis, many parents have thus expedited the marriages of teenage girls, who are largely confined to the home due to prohibitions imposed by the Taliban.
Parents increasingly feel that there is no future for girls in Afghanistan, says Mohammad Mashal, head of the teachers’ association in Herat. “They think it is better if their daughters get married and start a new life.” In March, authorities canceled the reopening of schools for girls, saying the ban was only temporary. But a number of excuses have been offered to justify the closure, and for many teenage girls it is already too late.
“Now I’m doing the dishes”
“I never imagined that I would drop out of school to become a stay-at-home mom,” explains Mariam, whose name, like the other testimonials, has been changed for security reasons. “My parents always encouraged me, but in such a situation, even my mother could not oppose my marriage,” he says. The young girl, who had just left school at the age of 16, was educated in the village until her parents decided to move to Charikar, the capital of Parwan province, a few years ago so that their children could study at university.
“Now, instead of studying, I wash dishes, do laundry, clean the floor. It’s so hard,” she said as she served breakfast to her father, 45-year-old Abdul Qadir. “I wanted them (Mary and her sisters, Editor’s note) to finish their university studies because I worked hard for it and already spent so much money on it,” explains the father. “But my previous experience with the Taliban tells me that they will not reconsider their decision.”
Video: Marie Guillen forcibly marries her young daughter in an anti-forced marriage prevention video
Source of income
This official, whose salary was almost halved under the Taliban regime, had to sell goods to feed his family, who lived on rent. “Girls don’t have many opportunities in Afghanistan, and marriage proposals stop after a certain age,” she explains. Thus, early marriages, especially common in rural Afghanistan, where dowries are paid to brides’ families, are a vital source of income. But they are not inconsequential. increase child and maternal mortality rates.
After foreign forces left the country, international aid, on which Afghanistan’s economy depends, has largely been cut off, causing mass unemployment and half of its 38 million residents to starve, according to humanitarian groups. As a sacrifice, some young women offer themselves in marriage to provide their families with a rare source of income. “(My father) didn’t force me, but the situation was such that I accepted the offer and got engaged,” said 15-year-old Sumayya in Kabul.
Sisters Sarah, 20, and Fatima, 19, were months away from university entrance exams when their school closed, preventing them from finishing high school. Both explain that with the death of their father from Covid-19, they had no choice but to start looking for a husband. “My conscience tells me that it is better to get married than to be a burden on my family,” says Fatima.
Source: Le Figaro
