ACTivate - Taliban Continue their War against Women and Girls, One Canadian Charity Fights Back

This month Catherine speaks with Dr Lauryn Oates, Executive Director of Right to Learn Afghanistan, a charity that for twenty-five years has championed education programs and made the right to education for women and girls a reality. With the Taliban in power, the current system of ‘gender apartheid’ sees girls over the age of 12 banned from education, resulting in at least 2.5 million school-aged girls out of school. Women are also banned from universities and a now-closed loophole that exempted health care training, to which many students switched their studies, has cut off training for new female nurses, doctors and midwives. Yet, Right to Learn Afghanistan continues to push back with online schools, grants and scholarships. Dr Oates (PhD Language & Literacy Education) explains there are significant risks for participants but, as the female suicide rate surges, female students tell them, "The biggest risk is having no education at all." Listen out for Part 2 of this interview next month. Read more at rightolearn.ca, Use your freedom and sign Amnesty’s petition at https://amnesty.org.nz/break-the-silence/