No country for young women

年輕女性沒有屬于自己的國家了

The Taliban are pushing females out of public life

塔利班正在將女性排擠出公共生活

On March 23rd thousands of Afghan girls headed to school for the first time in eight months, kitted out in bulging rucksacks, neatly pressed headscarves and covid-19 face masks.

3月23日，數(shù)千名阿富汗女孩8個月來第一次去上學(xué)，她們背著鼓鼓囊囊的背包，戴著熨平的頭巾和新冠肺炎口罩。

Within hours, they were at home in tears—and not because of playground fights or test results.

幾個小時后，她們就淚流滿面地回到了家里——不是因為操場上打架，也不是因為考試結(jié)果。

In a last-minute pivot, the Taliban had backtracked on a decision to reopen secondary schools for girls and sent them home.

在最后關(guān)頭，塔利班撤回了讓女孩重新開學(xué)的決定，并將她們遣送回家。

The new Taliban are beginning to look a lot like the old Taliban who ran Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, when women who failed to cover every inch of flesh in public were beaten and adulterers were stoned to death.

新的塔利班開始變得很像1996年至2001年統(tǒng)治阿富汗的舊塔利班，當(dāng)時婦女在公共場合不遮身就會被毆打，通奸者會被石頭砸死。

But Afghan women have changed after two decades of American-backed government.

但在美國支持的政府執(zhí)政20年后，阿富汗女性發(fā)生了變化。

Many have university degrees.

許多人都有大學(xué)學(xué)位。

Before the Taliban seized power last year, almost 30% of civil servants were women.

在去年塔利班奪取政權(quán)之前，幾乎30%的公務(wù)員是女性。

On the streets of Kabul book-waving girls have been chanting: “open the schools”.

在喀布爾的街道上，揮舞著書本的女孩們一直在高呼：“學(xué)校開學(xué)”。

When American forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the big question was how the Taliban would make the transition from a fundamentalist insurgency to running a country.

當(dāng)美軍從阿富汗撤軍時，最大的問題是塔利班將如何實現(xiàn)從原教旨主義叛亂到管理國家的過渡。

Girls' education became the litmus test.

女孩的教育成了試金石。

In August there was some hope they wanted to show a gentler face.

8月份，人們曾希望他們能展現(xiàn)出溫和的一面。

Officials were interviewed by female presenters on television.

官員們在電視上接受了女性主持人的采訪。

At the Taliban’s first press conference after seizing power, a spokesman reassured the world that women would be “very active” in Afghan society.

在塔利班奪取政權(quán)后的首次新聞發(fā)布會上，一位發(fā)言人向世界保證，婦女將在阿富汗社會中“非?；钴S”。

That balancing act seems over.

這種平衡行動似乎已經(jīng)結(jié)束。

The abrupt u-turn on education, which affects over 1m school-age girls, is one of a string of recent repressive edicts.

這一突如其來的教育政策大轉(zhuǎn)彎影響了100多萬學(xué)齡女孩，是最近一系列的壓制性法令之一。

New rules ban women from travelling long distances without a male chaperone.

新規(guī)定禁止女性在沒有男性陪同的情況下長途旅行。

That can mean they need a brother or a husband to enter a government building or a taxi.

這可能意味著她們需要兄弟或丈夫才能進入政府大樓或出租車。

A surgeon in Kabul says Taliban officials often visit, warning him not to see female patients who turn up alone.

喀布爾的一名外科醫(yī)生說，塔利班官員經(jīng)常來訪，警告他不要給單獨來的女性患者看病。

“This is a sad moment for all of us,” he adds.

“這對我們所有人來說都是一個悲傷的時刻，”他補充道。

Years?of?progress?are?imperilled.

多年的進步岌岌可危。

Under?the?previous?democratic?government,?backed?by?American?troops?and?money,?there?was?corruption?and?bigotry.

在美國軍隊和金錢的支持下的前民主政府存在腐敗和偏見。

But?the?female?literacy?rate?more?than?doubled?between?2000?and?2018?to?30%.

但女性識字率在2000年至2018年間翻了一倍多，達(dá)到30%。

Thousands?of?women?got?jobs?as?doctors,?lawyers?or?cops.

數(shù)以千計的女性找到了醫(yī)生、律師或警察的工作。

Some?became?entrepreneurs.

一些人成為了企業(yè)家。

Maternal?mortality?declined?sharply?and?female?life?expectancy?rose?by?ten?years.

孕產(chǎn)婦死亡率大幅下降，女性預(yù)期壽命增加了10年。

Now?a?generation?of?girls?is?falling?behind.

現(xiàn)在，一代女孩正在落后。

Some?risk?their?lives?to?attend?underground?schools.

一些人冒著生命危險去上地下學(xué)校。

Sexist?violence?was?a?problem?even?before?the?Taliban?takeover,?with?87%?of?women?and?girls?saying?they?had?suffered?abuse.

甚至在塔利班掌權(quán)之前，性別歧視暴力就已經(jīng)是一個問題了，87%的婦女和女孩說她們遭受過虐待。

Many?teenagers?will?become?mothers?before?schools?reopen.

許多青少年將在學(xué)校再次開學(xué)前成為母親。

Life?is?no?better?for?older?women?who?managed?to?get?an?education?before?last?year’s?takeover.

對于在去年接管之前成功接受教育的年長女性來說，生活也好不到哪里去。

The?Taliban?have?purged?women?from?most?workplaces.

塔利班已經(jīng)將女性從大多數(shù)工作場所清除出去了。

In?a?UN?survey?conducted?in?October,?every?single?person?interviewed?knew?a?woman?who?had?lost?her?job?in?the?previous?month.

在聯(lián)合國10月份進行的一項調(diào)查中，每個受訪者都認(rèn)識一個在上個月失去工作的女性。

Qamarulbanat?Quraishy?has?been?unemployed?since?August?and?is?frantically?searching?for?work.

Qamarulbanat?Quraishy自8月份以來一直處于失業(yè)狀態(tài)，正在瘋狂地找工作。

But?employers?are?turning?away?female?candidates.

但雇主們正在拒絕女性求職者。

Ms?Quraishy's?savings?have?run?dry?and?her?debts?are?mounting.

Quraishy女士的積蓄已經(jīng)耗盡，她的債務(wù)也在不斷增加。

“I?have?no?hope,”?says?the?24-year-old.

“我沒有希望，”這位24歲的女孩說。

Bigotry?affects?the?economy?too.

偏見也會影響經(jīng)濟。

In?terms?of?the?increase?in?hourly?earnings?from?an?extra?year?of?schooling,?the?return?on?educating?girls?in?Afghanistan?was?more?than?double?that?of?educating?boys.

就多上一年學(xué)而增加的時薪來看，在阿富汗，女孩受教育的回報是男孩的兩倍多。

The?children?of?educated?mothers?have?long?been?better?educated,?healthier?and?likely?to?earn?more?later?in?life.

長期以來，受過教育的母親的孩子會受更好的教育，更健康，在以后的生活中可能會賺更多的錢。

The?UN?reckons?that?keeping?women?out?of?work?costs?Afghanistan?up?to?$1bn,?or?5%?of?gdp.

據(jù)聯(lián)合國估計，讓婦女失業(yè)給阿富汗造成的損失高達(dá)10億美元，相當(dāng)于國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值的5%。

In?the?midst?of?an?economic?crisis,?the?country?can?ill?afford?the?loss.

在經(jīng)濟危機期間，這個國家承受不起這樣的損失。

When?the?Taliban?took?over,?sanctions?stemmed?the?flow?of?money.

當(dāng)塔利班接管政權(quán)后，制裁阻止了資金的流動。

Foreign?aid,?which?made?up?three-quarters?of?the?state?budget,?dried?up.

占國家預(yù)算四分之三的國外援助枯竭了。

Ordinary?Afghans?cannot?withdraw?savings?from?local?banks.

普通阿富汗人不能從當(dāng)?shù)劂y行提取儲蓄。

Many?have?been?unpaid?for?months.

許多人已經(jīng)被拖欠了幾個月的工資。

Almost?the?entire?population?could?be?desperately?poor?by?the?middle?of?the?year.

到今年年中，幾乎所有人都可能面臨極度貧困。

The?chaotic?way?in?which?decisions?have?been?announced?points?to?a?split?between?hardliners?and?pragmatists?within?the?Taliban.

宣布決定的混亂方式表明，塔利班內(nèi)部的強硬派和實用主義者之間存在分歧。

Secondary?schools?received?orders?not?to?admit?girls?only?after?they?had?arrived?on?campus?last?week.

上周，女生入學(xué)后，中學(xué)才接到命令，不得招收女生。

Taliban?leaders?have?been?ambiguous?about?this?policy.

塔利班領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人對這一政策一直含糊其辭。

In?some?provinces,?such?as?Kunduz?and?Balkh?in?the?north?of?the?country,?girls?were?allowed?to?return?to?school?not?long?after?the?Taliban?takeover.

在一些省份，如阿富汗北部的昆都士和巴爾赫，在塔利班接管后不久，女孩就被允許重返學(xué)校。

A?handful?of?high-ranking?officials?continue?to?educate?their?daughters?overseas.

少數(shù)高級官員繼續(xù)讓他們的女兒在海外接受教育。

As?Ashley?Jackson?at?the?Overseas?Development?Institute,?a?think-tank?in?London,?puts?it, “competing?visions”?within?the?Taliban?are?playing?out?in?public.

正如倫敦智庫海外發(fā)展研究所的阿什利·杰克遜所說，塔利班內(nèi)部的“相互競爭的愿景”正在公開上演。

The?only?hope?is?that?decisions?that?shut?women?out?of?public?life?could?be?reversed?as?quickly?as?they?were?announced.

唯一的希望是，快速推翻將女性排除在公共生活之外的決定，就像宣布時那么快。