Taliban issues new diktat, tells female employees to send male relatives as replacement

Kabul [Afghanistan], July 18 (ANI): Taliban on Monday issued a new diktat against female employees and told them to send male relatives as their replacements.
The announcement came a year after female employees working in the public sector were banned from government jobs and told to stay at home, reported Geo News.
Several women said that they received the same calls from Taliban officials.
"I was asked to introduce a male family member to replace me, so I could be dismissed from the job," says a woman.
Maryam, who worked at the Afghan ministry of finance for more than 15 years, said, "I was asked to introduce a male family member to replace me at the ministry, so I could be dismissed from the job."
"Since they came [to power], the Taliban have demoted me and reduced my salary from 60,000 Afghanis (Pound 575) to AFN 12,000. I cannot even afford my son's school fees. When I questioned this, an official rudely told me to get out of his office and said that my demotion was not negotiable," she said.
It is pertinent to note that the restrictions on women's employment resulted in an immediate economic loss of up to USD 1 billion, reported Geo News.
"Current restrictions on women's employment have been estimated to result in an immediate economic loss of up to USD 1 billion - or up to 5 per cent of Afghanistan's GDP," said Executive Director of United Nations Women Sima Bahous.
Afghan women have been protesting against the Taliban for the violations of their rights and the removal of women from government institutions since they took over Afghanistan last August.
Despite Taliban officials stating repeatedly that they will decide whether or not women will continue to work in government institutions, their fate is still unclear.
Afghan women have been unable to work for 10 months and are facing a wide range of problems.
Most female workers in government institutions have been denied access to work since the Taliban assumed control of the country last August, and a number of them have been fired.
The atrocities of the Taliban against Afghan women have been on an incessant surge since the organization seized power in Afghanistan in August last year, banning young girls and women of humanitarian rights. (ANI)