A university professor and his family wore shroud-like white fabric to protest the Islamic Emirate’s decision to ban women from work and education amid a rapid spike in joblessness in Afghanistan.  

The protest was held on Wednesday in Kabul, during which protestors called for justice and freedom.  

“I am not afraid of death. I will not stop myself from asking for freedom, justice, equality, brotherhood ... or to protest the deprivation of our children, who are not allowed an education,” said Mohammad Sabir Ensandost, a professor. 

Shila Ensandost, a schoolteacher and the wife of the professor, was among the protestors and was wearing a white cloth. “Define Islam in a genuine and basic manner. You are suppressing women, but it has been 20 years that democracy has sung in the ears of women," she said.   

Somiya, the daughter of Ensandost, expressed concern, saying that she is among the thousands of girls who have been banned from school.  

“We have been deprived of education,” she said. “Many women, who are here now, have been deprived of work. We ask the Islamic Emirate to give us the right to be educated.”  

Protestors who gathered around the family voiced similar demands from the Islamic Emirate. “They are at home and jobless,” said a resident of Kabul named Sadaf. “They are hungry, we haven’t gone to school yet and this is a very hopeless situation for us, that we are not going to school.”  

According to the protestors, many people were invited to the demonstration but presumably due to fear they refrained from participating.

Ensandost said: “I took ablution so that if I die on the street, I have done my duty. I am not avoiding this because hopelessness has surged these days.”