The Taliban is back...

The new Shia Family Law passed by Afghanistan comes as big blow to any progress towards gender equality. The fall of the Taliban might have been welcomed in Afghanistan, but they surely don't seem in a hurry to let go of their philosophies..! The law stands against the most basic rights that a woman can ask for. 

She cannot leave the house without her husband's permission and cannot get education or employement or even medical help without his consent. The wife is supposed to submit to her husband's sexual demands- which basically means that whenever he gets horny (sorry about the language), she better be ready or he would be well within his rights to rape her (after all it is one of his rights as her husband!)

It is heartening to see that the women of Afghanistan have not given up...about 200 of them took to the streets in a protest march against the law...only to be faced by a mob of angry men who spit on them and threw stones at them!! And these same men say that this Law has been passed to protect the weaker sex (though I wonder who they are being protected against?)