The Taliban has regained control of Afghanistan, leaving women fearing that they will be–once again–stripped away of basic human rights. Here’s why your help matters.
Over the past few days, the world watched from their screens as the Taliban took power over Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a two-decade war. Photos and videos surged online of Afghans racing in fear to the airport in hopes to get onboard the last flights out of their country. At least seven people died in the chaos. With Afghanistan’s president fled and the U.S. Embassy closed, journalists, translators, and vulnerable Afghan nationals who worked with Americans are forced to go under hiding with no protection from possible revenge attacks. And for the country’s 14 million women and girls, a possible rollback of all the achievements made for women’s rights.
Who Are The Taliban?
The Taliban is a militant group that was founded by Mullah Mohammad Omar with Islamic guerilla fighters known as the mujahideen, who resisted the Soviet occupation between the years 1979-1989. Their goal was to challenge the instability, corruption, and crime that consumed Afghanistan during the post-Soviet-era civil war. However, when they captured Kandahar and seized Kabul in 1996, the Taliban quickly imposed strict Islamic rules that banned television and music, barred girls from going to school and women joining the government, and forced them to wear head-to-toe coverings called burqas. They also provided a safe haven for al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
American troops ousted the Taliban when they invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to root out al-Qaida. But as the U.S. focus shifted to Iraq, the Taliban began to regroup and in recent years took over much of the Afghan countryside. Their goal is to rule Afghanistan according to Shariah law, under conservative rules.
Women’s Rights During The Taliban Regime
According to the 2001 report from the US State Department, these were the rules strictly implemented during their reign in the late 1990s.
– Women had to wear coverings from head to toe.
– Women were not allowed to work, except in very limited circumstances.
– Women were barred from attending schools.
– Women’s healthcare was restricted.
– Women were not allowed to leave their homes unless they were accompanied by male relatives.
– Women could only use special buses and were only allowed to take taxis when with male relatives.
– Women could not be on the street with men who were not related to them.
– The windows of houses had to be painted over to stop outsiders from seeing women in their homes.
Those caught defying these policies were subjected to beating, lashing, amputation, and death by stoning. Reports of rape, abduction, and forced marriage by the Taliban, were also rampant during their time. Many fear that the Taliban will reimpose this same harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The Fight For Women’s Rights
Activists have since been fighting for women’s educational, reproductive, and political rights in the country since the Taliban’s ousting in 2001. Women have then become judges, ministers, and police officers, and Afghanistan’s parliament even had a higher percentage of women than the U.S. Congress in 2020. During the 2004 constitution, it was included for the first time in Afghanistan’s history a provision that men and women were equal, and there could be no discrimination on that basis. And most importantly 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law was created to provide women and girls with legal protection from domestic violence. The law was never fully implemented due to deeply rooted patriarchal structures and religious fundamentalism, however, it did still give a measure of freedom the Afghan women have never experienced and the backing they need to demand for equality.
Life for women in Afghanistan changed significantly in the past 20 years. Workforce participation rose more than 50%, and according to USAID (United States Agency for International Development), enrollment in schools went from 900,000 male students in 2001 to 9.5 million in 2020, with girls making up 39%. But with the Taliban reestablishing control, all of this will remain in the past.
The Taliban have been releasing statements that in this era, women will be encouraged to join in governance and permitted to be educated but with the additional clause of it “according to Shariah law.” Local Taliban commanders have already have closed schools for girls entirely in provinces. Some don’t allow women to go out without a male companion and there are reports of forced marriage and public flogging. In Herat, the female members of the Afghan parliament had their houses searched, and their cars were taken away. Most recently, public photos of women around Kabul are being torn down and painted over.
Despite facing threats from the Taliban, female anchors are still hosting broadcasts and reporting live on the streets. Female activists have also stayed outspoken and unafraid on the streets and social media, demanding that their rights be maintained under the new rule.
What You Can Do For Afghan Women
While you might think that this crisis does not concern you but this war means a global human rights problem with innocent women and children caught in the crossfire. To help, immediate donations are essential to funding supplies for refugees. Groups like the Global Fund for Women, Women for Women International, and the United Nations Crisis Relief are raising emergency funds for humanitarian groups on the ground in Afghanistan.
But beyond the immediate state of emergency, Pashtana Durrani, a female education activist who is committed to staying in her country, says to hold the Taliban internationally accountable for their acts. This will pressure them to clarify their vague statements about education and work rights for women and guarantee that non-religious interference in education and the freedom to pursue their career of choice will remain. “The Taliban today isn’t the Taliban of 20 years ago: It needs the confirmation of the international community,” she says. By tracking school enrollment, workforce participation, and the like in the capital and provinces, the organizations and activists on the ground will have the support of the international community during cases of abuse.
So, keep the conversation going online and offline, help verify news being told in social media, educate yourself and others on the matter at hand. Most of all, tell everybody that the time to support women’s rights is now. By collectively keeping an eye on the Taliban, we can help protect Afghan women and children–it’s the very least we can do.
