A woman may not

go to high school or university...so begins the lengthy list of things a woman may not do in Afghanistan under the Taliban.

"It does not have logic," a refugee told me. She was looking at the coffee a friend had just bought for her but I doubt she was seeing it.  A... left Afghanistan almost five years ago. Her English is a little stilted at times but it is good because she went to school there and was taught English. She had dreams of becoming a doctor. Next year she will, with any luck, begin to pursue that dream again. It is something she thought might never happen but she did not give up hope.

I won't give up hope for her either but we talked about the other things Afghan women are no longer permitted to do. Getting an education is one of the things that worries A... the most. 

In order to get an education there are other restrictions which would also have to be lifted.  Women are no longer permitted to go anywhere outside their homes alone. They cannot drive a car or take a trip in a taxi. They must be chaperoned by a male member of their family at all times.

If they visit a doctor, who must of course be a male, they must go with their husband or a male member of the family. They may not speak to the doctor. They can only speak through the family member. A male doctor may not touch a female patient. This must make it almost impossible for a doctor to treat a patient.  All this does indeed "lack logic". Presumably Afghanistan still has enough trained women from the previous regime to deal with at least some of the needs of women.

Recently there was another slew of restrictions places on women. They may not sing. They may not speak in public and must not raise their voice at home. They may not read the Koran aloud outside the house. Women must cover themselves in dark clothing and not show their faces in public. They cannot play sport or even take their children to a park or playground.

I went to university with a Saudi princess. Saudi Arabia still has some very repressive laws with respect to women but that girl had a father who was, in many ways, progressive even all that time ago. Her father and I had a chat one day as he was waiting for her to come out of a lecture. He was a pleasant and interesting man who wanted to see change. He had sent all his children abroad to further their education. It is likely he is long dead but I suspect that the restrictions on Afghan women would appal him. They would not make sense.

How do you manage the health of women under the restrictions being imposed? How do you provide all the services needed if they cannot educate the young, care for the sick and elderly and so much more? Who fills all the roles that women still fill in society? Here we have some men demanding they be allowed to be treated as if they are women. We talk about "respecting their right" to do that. In Afghanistan they would be put to death for even speaking about such things. Here we worry about the issues surrounding abortion. In Afghanistan women must be worrying about getting even basic health care. It would be particularly so for the girls who have not been given even the most basic of instruction when they are forcibly married to men they have not met before their wedding day. 

It is time we looked a little further afield and saw what his happening in places like Kabul and beyond. The women there have some very real issues to be concerned about. Some of them are concerned with their actual survival.  I want A... to be able to go back one day and be a doctor in the country she was born in.  Is that too much to ask?