Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 08:34:40 -0400
From: Tammy West <t.west-AT-vprnet.org>
Subject: Re: M-FEM: A Polish tidbit


I don't suppose anyone has seen the recent worsening of conditions for
women in Afghanistan? From the Boston Globe a few days ago:

'Islamic religious police have issued several new regulations affecting
women, including one ordering them to avoid making noise with their shoes
when they walk.

The religiouus police, formally known as the Department for Promoting
Virtue and Preventing Vice, issued two memos last week - one to
international aid agencies operating in Kabul, the capital, and one to
hospitals.

The regulations sent to hospitals said: 'No Afghan woman can take a senior
or acting senior position in foreign-run hospitals. Women working in the
medical sector should not sit in the seat next to the driver during
transportation. No Afghan woman has the right to be transported in the same
car as foreigners.'

On the question of hospitals the regulations say: 'It is forbidden for
women to visit male patients in wards where unrelated males are hospitalized.'

'Stylish dress and decoration of women in hospitals is forbidden. Women are
duty-bound to behave with dignity, to walk calmly and refrain from hitting
their shoes on the ground, which makes noises.''