美国国家公共电台 NPR--The Taliban continue eroding the rights and visibility of Afghan women and girls

The Taliban continue eroding¹ the rights and visibility of Afghan women and girls

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks to Afghan women's rights advocate Naheed Farid about the Taliban ban on university education for women. She was shocked by the decision to end higher education for women.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

In Afghanistan, women educators are being told to go home until further notice. NPR has learned that female teachers at four schools in Kabul were told today to leave work. And this is raising concern that even Afghan girls in elementary school could be denied their education when school resumes after the winter break. This comes on the heels of the Taliban's ban on women attending university. I spoke³ to Naheed Farid. She's an advocate for women's rights, and she served in Afghanistan's Parliament under the previous government. She says she was shocked by the decision to end higher education for women.

NAHEED FARID: I would say this is a suffocating⁴ crackdown on women. I would say this is hard to tolerate as a woman, Leila, because I've been there. I studied in Afghanistan before 1996. I was in the school. And the Taliban took over in 1996. And I was feeling like I'm suffocating. I was feeling like I'm hopeless, I'm helpless, and I have no hope and no reason to continue my life.

FADEL: How old were you in 1996? What grade were you in?

FARID: I was a teenager in middle school in seventh grade.

FADEL: Seventh grade. So do you feel like you're right back in 1996?

FARID: It is reversing of Afghanistan to a stone age, not just 1996. I think this is really a decision that is pushing Afghan people towards backwardness, pushing Afghan people and Afghan women towards living in a underdeveloped society so they cannot think and they cannot fight back.

FADEL: You said that you had hoped the international community would influence the Taliban's decision. We heard condemnation⁵. The U.S. said this would, quote, "come with consequences" for the Taliban. Do you feel like the international community has and is doing enough?

FARID: You know, Leila, reflecting back 16 months of the Taliban rule in Afghanistan, the national committee was very good at putting up statements and resolutions of solidarity⁶ with Afghan women. But unfortunately, for the most part, they were only gestures that are symbolic⁷, not something that could change the situation on the ground for Afghan women. So far, when we were questioning policymakers from United States that while you were engaging with the Taliban, they had this reason that we want to influence Taliban. We want to start the conversation with them. But we see that this engagement did not take us anywhere positive. And this consequence is not just for the people of Afghanistan. It's for the whole region and whole world because Taliban want a nation that is radicalized, a nation that is ready to join the terrorist groups. And that will happen. As you see, there are paving the environment for that.

FADEL: Now, you're a fierce advocate for women's rights. You were an MP in Afghanistan. You were a founder⁸ of a university in Kabul that gave discounted tuition to women so they would access education. What does it mean for a society when half of the population is shut out of public life, doesn't have access to education?

FARID: I call this situation gender⁹ apartheid that forces women to subordinate level of the society. I call this situation a crackdown that wants to control the minds and bodies of women in a male-dominated society that we have in Afghanistan. I hear stories about women are selling their kidneys so their children do not go hungry while their husbands are selling their daughters for marriage. This is the level of sacrifice. This is the level of resistance, the level of braveness that Afghan women are showing to the world. And I think we should recognize and support them at this time.

FADEL: Have you spoken to women who were enrolled¹⁰ in universities? I mean, some had just taken their entrance exams a few months ago. What are they saying?

FARID: This is a grievance¹¹, the sorrow, the sadness, the anger, the hopelessness, the mixture of everything and also the planning for pushing back - I saw all of them in women that I am in touch with. Because these women, they wanted to be politicians, wanted to be public affairs representatives and public figures, things like that. It is quite hard for our university to continue like this, but we are trying to find out ways to resume classes in an online system.

FADEL: Naheed Farid, thank you so much for your time.

FARID: Thank you so much for having me.

1 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 suffocating   

a.使人窒息的

参考例句：

• After a few weeks with her parents, she felt she was suffocating.和父母呆了几个星期后，她感到自己毫无自由。
• That's better. I was suffocating in that cell of a room.这样好些了，我刚才在那个小房间里快闷死了。

5 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

6 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

7 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

8 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

9 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

10 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 grievance   

n.怨愤，气恼，委屈

参考例句：

• He will not easily forget his grievance.他不会轻易忘掉他的委屈。
• He had been nursing a grievance against his boss for months.几个月来他对老板一直心怀不满。