This article first appeared in our partner site, Independent Persian
The sound of coughing constantly echoes from the corner of a women’s wool-spinning workshop in the Khush neighbourhood of central Herat – a dimly-lit, dust-filled space where 10 women work 10 hours a day, earning less than $1.50 (£1.16) a day.
Masouma, 45, had a different life before the Taliban came to power. Her daughter worked at a private organisation and earned $250 (£193) a month. But after the fall of the previous government, the organisation shut down and her daughter lost her job. Now, Masouma has no choice but to come to this wool-spinning workshop to provide for her family.
Suffering from chest pain, she tells Independent Persian: “I come here out of necessity. I cough a lot while working because of the wool dust. My back and eyes hurt too. I went to the doctor and got some medicine but it didn’t help.”
Dim lighting, polluted air, and the lack of safety equipment have made working in this workshop unbearable. Masouma has no choice but to endure it – because if she doesn’t work, her family will go hungry. She says with sorrow: “If the Taliban hadn’t returned, my daughter – who is a university graduate – would still have her job, and I wouldn’t have to work in such harsh conditions.”
Masouma’s main concern is her health. She fears that she won’t be able to find another job, that her respiratory illness will worsen, her joint and eye pain will intensify, and that eventually she will lose the ability to work altogether. She fears the loss of not only her job but also her health.
Masouma is not the only woman who has turned to this workshop to make ends meet. Due to the Taliban’s restrictions on female employment in foreign and private organisations, hundreds of other women and girls are also forced to take on difficult, low-paying jobs.
Shukria, 50, another woman working in the workshop, spins wool for more than 12 hours every day, but earns only 100 Afghanis (around £1.10). The heavy workload and polluted air in the workshop have put her health at risk. She tells Independent Persian: “I have to take some wool home and work there too, just to make more money. Life has become extremely difficult, the increasing prices are unbearable. I also suffer from joint pain and can’t sleep at night.”
Bibi Gul, another worker, complains about her health while struggling to separate strands of wool with her hands. She says her eyesight has deteriorated and she can no longer clearly see the wool fibres.
“My wage is 100 Afghanis – it’s not much,” she says, “but I have no choice but to work. I’m sick, I cough, my back hurts – but I have no choice.”
Despite their pain and illness, the women return to this suffocating, polluted space every day – because they have no other option. In Herat, the largest city in western Afghanistan, dozens of wool-spinning workshops are operating, but most of them lack proper health and safety standards. The women working in these polluted environments are exposed to wool dust for days and months, leading to respiratory illnesses, joint problems, and deteriorating eyesight.
Doctors warn that the poor conditions in these workshops pose a serious threat to the women's health. They emphasise that prolonged exposure to wool dust can cause not only lung disease, but also skin conditions and even physical disabilities. Yet, there are no systems in place to support these women.
On the other hand, poverty and unemployment in Afghanistan have reached their highest levels, forcing many women and men to take on hard, low-paying jobs just to make ends meet. In such circumstances, the Taliban government has not only failed to take any steps towards improving the economic situation, but has also deepened the crisis by restricting women’s employment, limiting educational opportunities, and suppressing individual freedoms.
Today, as a result of international isolation and the Taliban’s repressive policies, Afghanistan is moving down a dark path, and women, who are often the breadwinners for their families, are bearing the brunt more than ever.
Reviewed by Tooba Khokhar and Celine Assaf
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