USAMA LADEN
22-01-2002, 03:07 AM
Afghan leader urges women to shed burqas
By Tom Squitieri, USA TODAY
KABUL, Afghanistan — In a dramatic reversal of Taliban policy, Afghanistan's new government is strongly encouraging female workers at national ministries not to wear the head-to-toe covering known as the burqa on the job.
Hamid Karzai, the country's interim leader, has also instructed ministries to hire more women, according to several ministers.
Karzai, who was attending a conference in Tokyo at which governments pledged more than $1 billion on Monday for Afghan reconstruction, has made equal rights for women a priority.
An official announcement on the new policies is expected within a week, but they are already being implemented at several ministries, including education, tourism, higher education, communications and women's affairs.
The Communications Ministry has hired 180 women. The Ministry of Higher Education plans to fill half the freshman class at Kabul University with women when the school year begins in March.
Under the Taliban regime, which held a fundamentalist view of Islam, women were required to wear the tent-like burqa in public. The Taliban also banned women from the workplace, closed girls' schools and hospitals and forbade women to leave their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.
Although the Karzai government abolished these rules when it took power in December, women in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan have been slow to cast off their burqas. Men have also been reluctant to integrate women into mainstream life.
Part of the slow response reflects tradition, but part reflects political uncertainty in Afghanistan, which is just emerging from two decades of conflict.
Under the new policy, women are not obligated to give up the burqa. But according to four ministers, no woman has continued wearing the garment at work. In addition to reaffirming a new role for women, the policy has a practical side: The flowing burqa restricts the wearer's vision and movement.
The Cabinet appeared to have no uncertainty. "There was almost no discussion of this in the Cabinet," said Sima Samar, vice chairwoman of the government and minister of women's affairs. "Even 40 years ago, this was the way it was in the workplace."
By Tom Squitieri, USA TODAY
KABUL, Afghanistan — In a dramatic reversal of Taliban policy, Afghanistan's new government is strongly encouraging female workers at national ministries not to wear the head-to-toe covering known as the burqa on the job.
Hamid Karzai, the country's interim leader, has also instructed ministries to hire more women, according to several ministers.
Karzai, who was attending a conference in Tokyo at which governments pledged more than $1 billion on Monday for Afghan reconstruction, has made equal rights for women a priority.
An official announcement on the new policies is expected within a week, but they are already being implemented at several ministries, including education, tourism, higher education, communications and women's affairs.
The Communications Ministry has hired 180 women. The Ministry of Higher Education plans to fill half the freshman class at Kabul University with women when the school year begins in March.
Under the Taliban regime, which held a fundamentalist view of Islam, women were required to wear the tent-like burqa in public. The Taliban also banned women from the workplace, closed girls' schools and hospitals and forbade women to leave their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.
Although the Karzai government abolished these rules when it took power in December, women in Kabul and elsewhere in Afghanistan have been slow to cast off their burqas. Men have also been reluctant to integrate women into mainstream life.
Part of the slow response reflects tradition, but part reflects political uncertainty in Afghanistan, which is just emerging from two decades of conflict.
Under the new policy, women are not obligated to give up the burqa. But according to four ministers, no woman has continued wearing the garment at work. In addition to reaffirming a new role for women, the policy has a practical side: The flowing burqa restricts the wearer's vision and movement.
The Cabinet appeared to have no uncertainty. "There was almost no discussion of this in the Cabinet," said Sima Samar, vice chairwoman of the government and minister of women's affairs. "Even 40 years ago, this was the way it was in the workplace."