Did restrictions on women workers hamper Afghanistan’s earthquake response?

More than 2, 200 people were killed and 3, 600 were hurt in an earthquake of magnitude 6,0 that occurred in eastern Afghanistan on August 31.

Relief and rescue efforts continue even after three weeks of the tragedy, with nearly half a million people affected by the earthquake in the provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar.

Women are notably absent from these efforts as the local government and aid organizations attempt to assist victims in a nation that is heavily reliant on international humanitarian aid.

Women were prohibited from working in Afghan NGOs until 2022 by the Taliban government. Additionally, it forbade Afghan women from working for international NGOs and the UN a year later.

Despite the fact that fewer women were employed as aid workers in Afghanistan than they were before the Taliban’s rise to power, many NGOs were able to bargain terms that allowed some of their female employees to continue working if their “mahrams” (male guardians) were present.

Some claim that the Taliban’s ban has made it more difficult for humanitarian organizations to reach Afghan women who require assistance during natural disasters like the recent earthquake. More than half of the earthquake’s victims and injuries were women and girls, according to the UN.

The Taliban insists it is doing everything in its power to ensure that all victims, regardless of gender, receive assistance, and several women who were in the earthquake-affected areas have claimed that male rescue workers did assist them.

Women are left out? mixed tales

In the wake of the catastrophe, the World Health Organization (WHO) urged the Taliban to impose restrictions on female aid workers in Afghanistan.

The growing lack of female staff in these places is a very big issue right now, according to Mukta Sharma, a WHO representative in Kabul’s capital city. She claimed that the majority of the medical staff in the earthquake-affected region were men, with the rest 10% being women, who primarily served as midwives and nurses and were therefore untrained to deal with serious injuries.

The difficulties faced by rescuing women were confirmed by a few female volunteer healthcare workers who were able to travel to the sites damaged by the earthquake.

After returning from Kunar on Friday, Fatema, a volunteer who only had her first name, told Al Jazeera that “many women still go missing due to the neglect,” because of the strict social code in Afghanistan.

According to Susan Ferguson, the UN Women’s special representative in Afghanistan, “we have seen with the Afghan women returnees from Iran and Pakistan, as we have seen with the women who have been there,” she told Al Jazeera in an email interview. The two nations have recently expelled thousands of Afghan refugees and migrants.

Nearly six out of ten of the victims of the 2023 Herat earthquake were women, according to Ferguson, and nearly two-thirds of those injured were also women. Nearly 1,400 people were killed, thousands of injured, and several villages were flattened by the three consecutive earthquakes, all of which were greater than magnitude 6, that occurred in Herat province in October 2023.

However, many of the women Al Jazeera spoke to claimed that male aid workers actually saved them after the recent earthquake.

Gulalai, a Kunar resident of the Nurgal district of Kunar, suffered severe injuries and lost all six of his children. Her safety was provided by her brother-in-law. She said, “I was screamin’ in pain and begging to be rescued.”

A rescue helicopter was able to follow them as they signaled their arrival. They had to transport us to the helicopter’s landing site because it couldn’t land at the location where we were. The rescue team arrived. Gulalai, who only gave her first name, said, “They cleaned my wounds, patched my injuries, and evacuated me.

Taliban officials added that they were committed to ensuring that, if necessary, male health workers treat women as effectively as possible.

The Afghan military and volunteers “evacuated and cared for everyone,” according to Najibullah Haqqani, the ministry’s provincial director for Kunar.

“On the second day, UNICEF opened a medical facility in Nurgal, which had both female doctors and a male director. The clinic treated everyone, both male and female, as many injured people as the clinic could handle there. Any doctor willing to treat any patient will be there in any emergency situation, with no gender-based discrimination. He said that saving lives is top of the list.

Unsanitary circumstances

Women and girls who survived the earthquake continue to struggle as they battle injuries and challenging conditions in relief camps, according to female volunteers and global nonprofit leaders.

More than 7,700 families left their homes in Nurgal district open spaces on September 16 as per a UN-led assessment.

Both men and women have issues because there are no gendered restrooms. Social barriers, however, make it particularly difficult for women to share bathrooms with men.

According to Ruhila Mateen, a spokeswoman for Aseel, an Afghan organization that provides emergency aid, “they frequently wait until late at night or early in the morning to use the restrooms in the camps.” The organization is coordinating the construction of more restrooms for women in the area.

In the camps, Mateen continued, “Women survivors have also reported experiencing fever, diarrhoea, bellyaches, kidney, and stomach pain due to unhygienic conditions.”

Female medical staff is lacked.

The availability of female employees has also had an impact on the availability of medical and emergency services.

Since the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan, many female medical professionals have left the country, despite the fact that they are still permitted to work there. Some of the people who stayed back claim that restrictions on their movements have made it harder for them to work. In many areas of Afghanistan, women are prohibited from traveling alone, making it illegal for them to move around in public.

Many of the women who are still enrolled in medical school are also prohibited by the Taliban’s higher education ban. There haven’t been any new female medical graduates in Afghanistan since the ban.

Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable in the wake of disasters like the recent earthquake, according to Pashtana Durrani, the founder of the NGO Learn Afghanistan, which disapproves the Taliban’s ban on women’s education.

She told Al Jazeera, “Women who are pregnant are not at all able to seek medical care.” Women are unable to interact with male doctors on matters relating to maternal and reproductive health because of the country’s traditionally conservative society.

After the earthquake, Durrani’s team of five female medical professionals sent medical supplies, including ultrasound equipment, to three Nangarhar districts. More than 11, 600 pregnant women who were affected by the earthquake are still urgently needed, according to the UNFPA in a report released earlier this month.

In the South Asian region, Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality. According to the World Bank, the nation had 521 maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births in 2023, which is many times the regional average of 120.

some candor

Female humanitarians, according to Ferguson of UN Women, are essential in overcoming gender barriers during times of crisis, such as after earthquakes. Too many women and girls will miss out on life-saving assistance, she said, “without them.” Women must provide assistance to women and girls, according to the statement.

According to Mateen of the Aseel NGO, women’s life-saving assistance needed to be provided by the appropriate professionals and facilities.

She said it is not very useful to send medicines without having doctors deliver them or using hygiene kits for women without having access to the restroom.

However, Durrani of Learn Afghanistan claimed that aid workers who worked with women were becoming more popular.

Although these are conservative communities, she said, “They have been very open to receiving help and support.” Many of the locals have reached out to us, offered to support us, and provided many helpful things. Therefore, I believe that everything is important.

Source: Aljazeera