Somali Town Bans Women From Working

A Somali town has banned women from working — to their great economic detriment.

On Tuesday, the Al shabaab administration in southern Somalia’s Kismayo town banned women from working — despite the imperative of providing for their families. Al shabab, the islamist insurgent group, has imposed a strict form of Sharia law over much of southern Somalia. Reports UPI,

Shabelle Media Network said the woman, who did not want her name used, got in touch to report jobs had been closed to women, including working at the port, in cafeterias and selling khat in the market. She said some women in the town went to the al-Shabaab judge and asked him, apparently without success, to make the rules less restrictive. Many Somali families are dependent on women’s earnings given the longtime political and economic chaos in the country.