Female City Workers in Kabul Ordered by the Taliban to Stay at Home

The Taliban on Sunday instructed all female city workers in Kabul, Afghanistan who cannot be replaced by men to stay at home.

Kabul's interim mayor Hamdullah Namony announced that only women who cannot be replaced by men will be allowed to continue working. Some women working in the design and engineering departments, and attendants of public toilets for women are among those that will be permitted to work, according to the Associated Press.

"There are some areas that men can’t do it, we have to ask our female staff to fulfill their duties, there is no alternative for it," Namony said.

Namony said that Kabul's workforce consisted of nearly 3,000 women before the Taliban took over in August.

The Taliban also replaced a women's ministry with the "Ministries of Prayer and Guidance and the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" in Kabul on Friday.

Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi, a Taliban spokesman, said in a Sept. 9 interview that women cannot perform government duties because doing so would "put something on her neck that she cannot carry."

The Taliban, upon taking over Afghanistan, indicated that they would be more moderate than they were when they previously held power back in the 90's, when women and girls were prohibited from receiving an education, working and leaving their homes without a man.

The international community, however, expressed skepticism about whether the terror group has been modernized.

The Taliban announced in August that mixed-gender classes would be banned. Last week, the Taliban said in a Facebook post that all male students and teachers in grades six through 12 should return to school but made no mention of female students.

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About 50 Afghan women in the city of Herat staged a protest earlier this month to demand work and education opportunities for themselves and their daughters.

"We want to be part of the government — no government can be formed without women," one of the protest organizers said. "We want the Taliban to hold consultations with us."