After 20 years, the Taliban managed to regain control in Afghanistan after a deal in 2020 was made for US troops to withdraw. The militant Islamic group rapidly took over the country, seeing to the collapse of the Afghan military, until eventually they seized Kabul on the 15 August 2021. It didn’t take long for the Taliban to have complete control over all of Afghanistan – something they haven’t done since their first rise to power between 1996 and 2001.
Under the Taliban’s rule, Afghanistan faces a severe women’s rights crisis, causing the country to be one of the most oppressive in the world. Day by day, the rights of Afghan women and girls are becoming fewer and fewer as they are condemned for just existing. Though the Taliban may claim they have become less strict, women and girls are being erased from public and social life, perhaps even worse than before. Immediately after the Taliban took over in 2021, women and girls took to the streets to protest and fight for their rights. However, they were met with violence, arbitrary detention and even death, like former female MP, Mursal Nabizada.
Within a month of the Taliban seizing Kabul, the Taliban’s education ministry banned women and girls from schools, eventually extending the ban to include universities in December of 2022. If any woman tries to enter the classroom, they are turned away at gunpoint. Women have also been banned from getting jobs, including working with NGOs, affecting international aid.
Recently, there has been a devastating ban on midwifery. Trainee midwifery students have been ordered to stop attending classes until further notice, making the future of female healthcare scary and uncertain. Midwifery was one of the last remaining professions untouched by the Taliban’s restrictions, due to the ban on female patients receiving treatment from men. Afghanistan already has one of the highest rates of deaths in childbirth in the world – with one woman estimated to die every two hours. Meaning this ban to midwifery could severely increase those numbers.
Women have also been banned from travelling alone, and they must not leave the house without being accompanied by a male guardian. As well as this, women are forced to be completely covered from head to toe by wearing a burqa. If a woman breaks the dress code restrictions it is the male who will receive punishment.
There are many other ways women’s rights have been denied from them. They cannot partake in sports or go to gyms. They are not allowed to visit parks. Beauty parlours and salons have been banned. And Afghan women have been completely silenced, they are banned from reading, singing and speaking in public. According to the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law, women’s voices are deemed to be a source of temptation.
Under the Taliban’s rule, women are completely devoid of life. In Kabul, people were ordered to cover their windows so women inside could not be seen from the street. It is also completely acceptable for men to commit domestic violence and abuse to their female family members.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both agreed that the Taliban have committed crimes against humanity of gender persecution. If women do not abide by the bans put in place, they are met with severe punishments. But when will it end? Women in Afghanistan are being silenced, making protests extremely challenging. And it is hard to expect men to stand by women when they too are put at risk for supporting their rights. Activists Matiullah Wesa and Professor Ismail Mashal were detained and tortured by the Taliban for their support of women’s rights. Now that they are free, it is unlikely they will voice their support again. The Taliban’s rules create an environment of fear and anxiety, with men facing an intense social pressure to adhere to stereotypes of masculinity.
The crackdown on women’s rights has attracted considerable international attention, with celebrities like Meryl Streep speaking out on the matter. It is important for there to be influential voices who can speak on behalf of the silenced women in Afghanistan. The global community can play a crucial role in pressuring the Taliban, by providing education and economic opportunities, and ensuring humanitarian aid reaches those in need. By supporting underground schools, expanding remote work, and amplifying the voices of Afghan women, international organisations can help sustain their fight for dignity and equality. While the road ahead is uncertain, the unwavering courage and resilience of Afghan women, and the growing global action, keeps the hope for change alive.
The world must not look away.
Sources:
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/02/06/taliban-and-global-backlash-against-womens-rights
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2023)747084
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11451718
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/12/what-world-needs-do-afghan-women