Taliban bar women from taking key medical school exam

July 17 (UPI) -- The ruling Taliban government has barred women in Afghanistan from taking a key exam needed to practice medicine, according to a report published by the United Nations Monday.

Beginning in May, the Taliban instituted a policy allowing only male medical students to take the Exit Supplementary Exam, according to the latest updated issue of the U.N.'s Human rights situation in Afghanistan report.

Women's rights have been eroded heavily in Afghanistan since the Taliban re-established control over the country and its population of 40.1 million in late August of 2021.

Earlier in July, Taliban leaders ordered all beauty parlors in the country to close by the 25th of the month.

The Taliban's Ministry of Public Health previously blocked women from taking medical school exit examinations in February.

The de facto rulers of Afghanistan also banned women from attending university last December.

In April, the Taliban government implemented a ban, prohibiting all women in Afghanistan from working for non-governmental aid organizations, including the United Nations.

The U.N. Security Council later said the move was "undermining human rights and humanitarian principles in the country."

Other non-governmental agencies have had their licenses to operate in Afghanistan suspended or revoked. Some have had their female employees jailed, the latest U.N. report points out.

Women, both foreign and Afghan have also been arrested for failing to travel in the company of a male family member.