A number of businesswomen say that in the past, most of their customers were women who worked with NGOs and other institutions, but now there is not any customer.
Sima Amiri, a woman working in a sewing shop said that she is waiting for even one customer in a day.
12 women are working in Sima’s sewing workshop, but this year’s business stagnation has shocked them.
“In the past, I had a personal business, my work was good, I had many customers, now the work is not good, our living situation is not so good either. I am married, my husband is sick and I am the breadwinner.”
Sima has been working in a workshop in the women’s market for a year, but she has a lot of economic problems.
“When I started my work here, everyone liked my sewing, but due to establishing this workshop, my financial problems became worse. I hope for improvement in my business.”
Ban on women working in NGOs and other institutions not only reduced the number of customers, but some of them have also started similar businesses.
Habiba Narvand a University professor due to girls’ deprivation from higher education and the closing of Universities, started tailoring.
Habiba says that the business situation for women is worse in the current case and asks the government to allow women to work.
She has a master’s degree in agriculture and irrigation and said: “Since the universities were closed, I started sewing. I was teaching girls in a private university, but now I cannot.”
“I try to develop the workshop and increase the business, but I was a professor and since the universities closed to us, we don’t have much motivation after that”, she says.
Tamna a customer said that “due to poor economic conditions and unemployment, women cannot afford to buy clothes, they prefer to feed their children instead of buying clothes”.
Meanwhile, Behnaz Saljuqi, the deputy of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce in the western zone said that women’s business is currently good, and the Women’s Chamber of Commerce has many plans for the further development of women’s business.
“We organize an exhibition for women’s business marketing, it’s good for women’s businesses. We also opened markets due to improving their business compared to the past”, she added.
According to Ms Saljuqi, currently around 60 women are working in three women’s markets in Herat.
This is while businesswomen are complaining about stagnation in their business due to a lack of customers, saying that its principal cause is the unemployment of women who previously worked in institutions and offices.
Translated by: Sadaf Yarmal
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