The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as foreign troops left the country. Since then, the regime has launched a brutal crackdown on girls and women in particular. The Taliban have further curbed women’s rights despite the country’s constitution that enshrines gender equality. Women have been banned from using public transportation unless accompanied by a close male relative.
The nationwide system of support built up by women’s rights activists has collapsed. Shortly after the Taliban takeover last August, threats have been made against relief institutions[1]. Many fighters perished in a protracted war, leaving wives and children. Single and married women are a burden for their families, which makes them vulnerable to violence[2].
In a press conference, the Taliban announced that women and girls in Afghanistan must now cover up from head to toe when they leave their homes[3].
Amid a devastating humanitarian crisis, ever more parents are turning to the tradition of marrying off their teenage daughters in return for a dowry, mostly in rural areas. Women get married to avoid persecution from Taliban militants[4]. The decisions to sell off girls for marriage are made by men. Teenage girls––usually aged 15––give birth as a consequence of early marriage and often die of causes related to pregnancy. The chair of the United Nations taskforce on early marriage works closely with communities, religious leaders, and youth in some provinces in Afghanistan, where it leads grassroots campaigns among a wide, largely illiterate audience, using cartoons to talk about the risks of early marriage[5].
The opportunities for young Afghan women to study are also extremely restricted. The Taliban have effectively banned girls from secondary education in some Afghan provinces. Women can only attend seminars if their university offers gender-segregated instruction[6]. Keeping girls out of schools will exert a terrible economic impact of this decision on the country’s GDP, according to UNICEF. One consequence of denying girls access to education could consist in upcoming shortages of female teachers, doctors, and nurses. Afghanistan will lose millions of dollars in women’s labor[7]. Many well-educated Afghan women fled the country. A large group of women activists in Kabul staged a protest rally against the expulsion of dozens of female students from a Kabul University dormitory for violating university regulations. The demonstrators chanted “Education is our red line” and “silence is treason[8].”
Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on free speech. Many female activists staged rallies to openly protest their growing discontent. A group of Afghan women gathered in Kabul in support of protests in Iran over the death of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, while in detention by morality police in Tehran for failing to properly cover her hair with a hijab. Female activists gathered outside the Iranian embassy chanting, “Women, life, freedom,” “Iran has risen. Now it’s our turn!” and “From Kabul to Iran say no to dictatorship!” Taliban security forces started firing in the air to disperse the rally[9]. Afghan women have taken to the streets in groups large and small to protest against the Taliban regime’s new curbs on their rights. Some women held signs with a question in English: “Why the world is watching us silently and cruelly?” Others held up signs for freedom. In response, the Taliban have at times used force—wielding whips or beating women with batons so that they feel scared[10].
The Taliban has systematically excluded Afghan girls from public life. After foreign troops entered Afghanistan in 2001, many Afghan women held prominent offices in the judiciary and politics. The Taliban also abolished the country’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Women who hold public offices are now at huge risk. Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice.”
There are still significant challenges for women accessing healthcare in Afghanistan. Only about half of all births are supervised by midwives or doctors. Afghanistan still has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world[11]. Women often bleed to death after giving birth at home. Clinics are often located in remote places. There are no cars nor proper roads to take women to the hospital. Many women die due to complications in childbirth in hospitals that are generally poorly equipped[12].
Women have also been banned from appearing in television dramas in Afghanistan under new rules imposed by the Taliban government[13]. Female TV presenters are forced to cover their faces when going on air. The presenter Farida Sial told the BBC: “It’s OK that we are Muslims, we are wearing hijab, we hide our hair, but it’s very difficult for a presenter to cover their face for two or three hours consecutively and talk like that.” “They want to erase women from social and political life,” she said. She said she wanted the international community to put pressure on the Taliban to reverse the edict[14].
While initially, the Taliban promised that women would be able to “exercise their rights within Sharia law”[15], these promises were merely empty words while the crackdown on Afghan girls and women continues.
Conclusions
Despite initial promises, girls and women in Afghanistan are being discriminated against by its new government, with their rights and freedoms curbed. Women have been excluded from education or transport while struggling to receive decent healthcare. Women are now considered the property of men. The fate of Afghan girls and women remains the same as long as the Taliban regime is in power. Afghanistan is desperate for outside aid efforts to ensure decent living standards for people. The country is on the brink of extreme poverty that drives families to sell their daughters into marriage.
Kinga Szurc holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Security and Diplomacy. She pursues a Master’s Degree in National Security at the War Studies University. In June 2021 she defended a thesis on U.S-Afghan Taliban negotiations in 2001–2020. Her research interests include terrorism, special services, the Middle East, and South Asia. She is a member of two student scientific associations in special forces and national security.
[1] Where we empower women: Afghanistan, https://medicamondiale.org/en/where-we-empower-women/afghanistan
[2] Afghanistan: Taliban Blocking Female Aid Workers, https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/04/afghanistan-taliban-blocking-female-aid-workers
[3] Diana Hadid, Taliban declares women and girls must cover up from head to toe in public, https://www.npr.org/2022/05/08/1097458605/taliban-declares-women-and-girls-must-cover-up-from-head-to-toe-in-public
[4] Where we empower women: Afghanistan, https://medicamondiale.org/en/where-we-empower-women/afghanistan
[5] Child marriage, https://afghanistan.unfpa.org/en/node/15233
[6] Where we empower women: Afghanistan, https://medicamondiale.org/en/where-we-empower-women/afghanistan
[7] Depriving girls of secondary education translates to a loss of at least US$500 million for the Afghan economy in last 12 months, https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/depriving-girls-secondary-education-translates-loss-least-us500-million-afghan
[8] Ayaz Gul, Afghan Women Protest Expulsion of Female University Students, Curbs on Education, https://www.voanews.com/a/6794650.html
[9] Ayaz Gul, Taliban Disrupt Afghan Women’s Rally Supporting Iran Protests, https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-disrupt-afghan-women-s-rally-supporting-iran-protests-/6768633.html
[10] Hannah Bloch, Photos: Afghan Women Are Protesting For Their Rights, https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035214735/women-afghanistan-protest-taliban
[11] Where we empower women: Afghanistan, https://medicamondiale.org/en/where-we-empower-women/afghanistan
[12]Tan Ee Lyn, Death in childbirth: A health scourge for Afghanistan, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghan-health-mothers-idUSISL31813620080430
[13] Afghanistan: Taliban unveil new rules banning women in TV dramas, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-59368488
[14] Joseph Lee, Afghanistan’s female TV presenters cover their faces, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61541064
[15]Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, One Year under The Taliban Rule: Situation of Wolej And Girls In Afghanistan, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2022/08/16/one-year-under-the-taliban-rule-situation-of-women-and-girls-in-afghanistan/?sh=4b9b94dd7a60
