Girls Driven to Low-Paid Carpet Weaving After School Ban

At a Workshop in Kabul Where Carpects Are Made, Hundreds of Women and Girls Work in a cramped Space, The Air Thick and Stifling.

Among Them is 19-year-old Salehe Hassani. “We No Girls Have The Chance to Study,” She Says With A Faltering Smile. “The Circumstances Have Taken That From Us, So We Turned To The Workshop.”

Since the Taliban seized Power in 2021, Girls Over the Age of 12 Have Barred From Getting An Education, And Women From Many Jobs.

In 2020, Only 19% of Women Were Part Of The Workforce – Four Times Less Than Men. That Number has dropped Even Further Under the Taliban Rule.

The Lack Opportunities, Coupled With The Dire Economic Situation, Have Many Pushed Long, Laborious Days of Labor Weaving – One Of The Few Trades The Taliban Government Allows Women to Work.

According to the Un, The Livelihoods of About 1.2 to 1.5 Million Depend on The Carpet Weaving Industry, Women Making Up Nearly 90% Of The Workforce.

In An Economy That The un warned in a 2024 Report Warned Had “Basically Collapsed” Since The Taliban Took Power, The Carpet Export Business Is Booming.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce Low Six Months of 2024 Million Kilograms of carpets – Worth $ 8.7m (£ 6.6m) – Were exported to countries Such as Pakista, India, Austria and The US.

But this has not necessary Meant Better Weavers for The Weavers. Some The BBC Spoke to Thy Had Seen None From The Profit From Piece Sold in Kazakhstan Last Year’s Fetched $ 18,000.

Within Afghanistan, carpets for Sell for Far Less – Between $ 100- $ 150 per square meter. Needing Money to Help Their Families and Having Few Options for Employment, Workers Are Trapped In Low-Paid Labour.

Carpet Weavers Say The Earn About $ 27 for Each Square Metre, which usually Takes About to Produce. That is less than a dollar a day despite the Long, Grulling Shifts That Often Stretch to 10 or 12 hours.

Nisar Ahmad Hassieni, Head of Elmak Baft Company, Who Let The BBC Go Inside His Workshops, Said That He Pays His His Employees $ 39 and $ 42 per Square Metre. Hey Said They Are Paid Every Weeks, With Eight-Hour Workday.

The Taliban has been repeatedly that to be allowed to return to reshape to the resludation of the Curriculum, even resolved – but so far, no.

Mr Hassieni Said That, Following The Rise Of The Taliban Government, HIS Organization Made It IT Mission to Support Those Left Left By The Closures.

“We stablelyed Three Workshops for Carpet Weaving and Wool Spinning,” He Says.

“About 50-60% of These Rugs Are Exported to Pakistan, While The Rest Sent to China, The USA, Turkey, France, and Russia to Meet Customer Demand.”

Shakila, 22, Makes Carges with Her Sisters of One Of The Rooms Of The Modest Rental Their Also Share With Their Elderly Parents And Three Brothers. They Live In The Impoverished Dasht-E Barchi area, in the Western Outskirts of Kabul.

She Once Had Dreams of Becoming A Lawyer, But Now Leads her family’s Carpet-making operation.

“We couldn’t do Anything Else,” Shakilla Tells me. “There Weer’t Any Jobs”.

She explains How Her Father Taught Her to Weave When She Wear 10 And He Recovering A Car Accident.

What Began As A Necessary Skill in the Hardship Has Now Beakcome The Family’s Lifeline.

Shakila’s Sister, 18-year-old Sami, Aspiring to Be A Journalist. Mariam, 13, Was Forced To Stop Going to School Before Before Even Begin To Dream Of A Career.

Before the Taliban’s Return, All Three Were Students Sayed Al-Shuhada High School.

Their Lives were Alterver Altered at Deadly Bombings at The School in 2021 Killed 90 People, Mostly Young Girls, And Left Nearly 300 Wounded.

The Previous Government blamed The Taliban For The Attack, Though The Group Denied Any Involvement.

Fearing Another Tragedy, Their Father Made The Decision to Withdraw Them From School.

Samira, Who Was At The School When The Attacks Happened, has been traumatized, Speaking With A Stutter And Struggling To Express Herself. Still, She says She would do Anything to Return to Formal Education.

“I really wanted to finish my Studies,” She Says. “Now That The Taliban Even Power, The Security Situation has Improved and There Be Been FeWide Bombings.

“But The Schools Are Closed Still. That’s Why We Have To Work.”

Despite The Low Pay and Long Hours of Work These Face, The Spirits of Some Are Unbroken.

Back at One of the Workshops, Salehe, Determined and Hopeful, Confided That She Had Been Studying English For The Past Three Years.

“Even Though Schools and Universities Are Closed, We Refuse To Stop Our Education,” She Says.

One Day, Salehe Adds, She Plans to Become to Beceor and Build The Best Hospital in Afghanistan.