Days after the announcement of the new, all-male cabinet, Taliban spokesperson Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi has responded to the blatant sexism with some really scary and unfortunate words.
Speaking to TOLO news about it, he said:
A woman can’t be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can’t carry. It is not necessary for women to be in the cabinet – they should give birth. Women protesters can’t represent all women in Afghanistan.
To this, the interviewer responded by saying, “Women are half of the society”.
And Hashmi gave another highly problematic opinion:
But we do not consider them half. What kind of half? The half itself is misdefined here. The half means here that you keep them in the cabinet and nothing more. And if you violate her rights, not an issue. Over the last 20 years, whatever was said by this media, the US, and its puppet government in Afghanistan, was it anything but prostitution in offices?
Among other things, what’s unfortunate is that this was expected. Despite the Taliban saying that it has changed its ‘policies’ since the last time it had occupied Afghanistan, the citizens of the country and the others around the world knew that it’s probably not going to be the case, not in favour of women anyway.
This is how the internet reacted to the news.
For once and for all – the Taliban is always going to be the same, and it is always going to deprive women of their rights and dignity.