In a rare all-female panel discussion televised by the Afghan network Tolo News, former university lecturer Zakira Nabil asserted that women exist in society whether or not you like it. On International Women's Day, a rare nearly 50-minute broadcast on an Afghan television network featured an all-female panel in the studio, according to the news agency Reuters.
The discussion was moderated by Tolo news anchor Sonia Niazi, who discussed the issues and expectations facing Afghan women at the moment, according to The Independent.
An all-female panel on Afghan television discussed the position of women in Islam to mark International Women's Day. It was a rare broadcast since the Taliban took over in 2021 #IWD2023 pic.twitter.com/gHLbtZDsK1
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 9, 2023
Since the hardline Taliban seized power in Afghanistan, this is the first time that such a news conversation has occurred there. The news broadcaster's photos show women participating in the conversation while wearing surgical masks over their faces. On Wednesday night, a panel of three women and a female moderator examined the status of women in Islam.
The Taliban has imposed numerous restrictions on women, such as wearing a full-length burqa in public and being barred from attending institutions.
According to Islam, women have rights, including the right to work and education, according to journalist Asma Khogyani, who spoke on the panel.
Zakira Nabil, another panelist, predicted that women would continue to find ways to work and learn.
Women exist in this culture whether you like it or not, and if they can't learn in school, they will learn at home, the former university professor told the panel.
Social media users responded favorably to the news conversation and commended Tolo for the presentation.
More than 75% of female journalists had lost their jobs since the Taliban took control in August 2021, according to a Reporters Without Borders survey conducted the previous year.
After the winter break, Afghanistan's universities have reopened, but only men are permitted to attend classes due to a Taliban ban on female students. Since the Taliban retook control in August 2021, numerous limitations have been placed on women. One of these restrictions, the university ban, has outraged people all over the world, particularly those in the Muslim world.
Despite the Taliban's assurances of a more moderate government than the one before, women have also been driven out of the workforce in the past year. Several female journalists were forced to leave the field or work off-air as a result of a rule that prohibited women from holding office.
The Taliban had mandated that all women wear a face cover in addition to a full-length burqa when appearing in public starting in May 2022. The directive, which also applied to TV hosts, at first sparked some opposition.
The UN mission in Afghanistan declared Afghanistan to be "the most oppressive in the world regarding women's rights" a day after International Women's Day.
