According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 published by the World Economic Forum, there is no country in the world that has yet to achieve gender equality. Across the world, women are told what to wear, where to wear it, and when. Even when trying to combat the strictest oppression of women, governments dictate how women should look.
Afganistan
“Since August 2021, the de facto authorities (DFA) have issued more than 100 decrees affecting women and girls, stripping them of their rights and institutionalising discrimination against them.” According to UN Women.
Afghan women face some of the harshest conditions. Women are banned from school around age 13, unable to work or be involved in politics, and stripped of authority even in their own households. Women get every outlet of personality taken away. In July 2023, the Taliban ordered all beauty salons to be shut down within a month, according to CBS News.
The burqa mandate has been one of the biggest symbols of the loss of freedom. In Afghanistan, burqas have been mandatory for women to wear since 2021. The western province of Herat has banned women from entering hospitals without wearing a burqa. According to Human Rights Watch, “In August 2024, the Taliban issued the Law on the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a formal morality code that prohibits women’s voices from being heard outdoors.”
Italy
In 1946, women obtained the right to vote and to run for election. Since then, women’s rights in Italy have only grown stronger. According to Università Di Padova, “the introduction of divorce (1970), family law reform establishing equality between spouses (1975), legislation on maternity protection and voluntary termination of pregnancy (1978), and the abolition of “honour killing” provisions and so-called “marriage of reparation” (1981).”
While some things may have improved, there is still a long way to go. In October 2026, the Italian Government approved a ban on the burqa and niqab in schools as well as a 30% cap on children without Italian citizenship or poor knowledge of the Italian language. According to MSN, “Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara has said the limit is “purely linguistic” rather than one of citizenship, while he has sought to frame the ban on the niqab and burqa as a matter of gender equality.”
France
In 1945, women in France were granted the right to vote and stand for election. According to The European Institute for Gender Equality, “France has a tradition of gender equality legislation in employment and professional life. Beginning with the law of 22 December 1972 on equal pay, at least 12 laws were adopted on the topic prior to 2014, including the 1983 law on professional equality.”
Burqas in France have been a long-standing social debate. In 2010, the French Government passed a ban on covering the face in public. This law included religious coverings. “Though the burka is rare in France — the hijab, or headscarf, is more common — a ban would mean that women who chose to wear it would not have the right to make that choice,” said Harper’s Bazaar. In 2020, France chose to uphold this ban on Islamic face coverings even in the midst of COVID-19-related mask mandates, according to CBS News.
Greatest Common Factor
All across the world, in countries like Belgium, Switzerland, and Kazakhstan, there are laws banning face coverings. In the United States, there have been laws banning face coverings
According to UN Women, women across the world have 64% of the legal rights of men, and over half of countries lack consent-based definitions of rape, leaving women vulnerable to sexual violence and impunity. All of these laws have one thing in common: they dictate what a woman can and cannot do. Women often experience later diagnoses for the same diseases compared to men, according to JABFM. No matter what country you are from, women are born into spaces built for men.