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The treatment of women by the Taliban refers to actions and policies by two distinct Taliban regimes in Afghanistan which are either specific or highly commented upon, mostly due to discrimination, since they first took control in 1996. During their first rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. In 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, nor were they allowed to be educated after the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.
Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education. In 2021, there were nearly 10 million students and 220,000 teachers in Afghanistan. The nation still requires more schools and teachers. Soon after the Taliban take took the country in August 2021, they banned girls from secondary education. Some provinces still allow secondary education for girls despite the ban. In December 2022, the Taliban government also prohibited university education for females in Afghanistan, sparking protests and international condemnation. In December 2023, investigations were being held by the United Nations into the claim that Afghan girls of all ages were allowed to study at religious schools. As of November 2024, some parts of the country allow women to attend religious schools to pursue dentistry, nursing, and other subjects.
Human rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime are severely restricted and considered among the worst in the world. Women's rights and freedom are severely restricted, as they are banned from most public spaces and employment. Afghanistan is the only country in the world to ban education for women over the age of eleven. Taliban's policies towards women are usually termed as gender apartheid. Minority groups such as Hazaras face persecution and eviction from their lands. Authorities have used physical violence, raids, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, enforced disappearances of activists and political opponents.
Zakia Zaki was an Afghan journalist for the Afghan Radio Peace (Sada-i-Sulh) station north of Kabul, Afghanistan. She had been given threats on account of her work and was killed at her home outside of Kabul in April 2007. Zaki was the first Afghani journalist to speak out against the Taliban after the US forces initiated the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), while she also championed other causes like gender equality and women's rights in Afghanistan. Her murder was seen as part of a series of recent attacks against high-profile Afghan women.
Women's rights in Afghanistan are severely restricted by the Taliban. In 2023, the United Nations termed Afghanistan as the world's most repressive country for women. Since the US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban gradually imposed restrictions on women's freedom of movement, education, and employment. Women are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities, making Afghanistan the only country to prohibit females from studying beyond the sixth grade. Women are not allowed in parks, gyms, or beauty salons. They are forbidden from going outside for a walk or exercise, from speaking or showing any part of their face or body outside the home, or even from singing or reading from within their own homes if they could be heard by strangers outside. In extreme cases, women have reportedly been subjected to gang-rape and torture in Taliban prisons.
The mass media in Afghanistan is monitored by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), and includes broadcasting, digital and printing. It is mainly in Dari and Pashto, the official languages of the nation. It was reported in 2019 that Afghanistan had over 107 TV stations and 284 radio stations, including 100s of print media and over 1,800 online media outlets. After the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in 2021, there was a concern that the mass media will significantly decrease in the country. The number of digital media outlets is steadily increasing with the help of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and other such online platforms. IEA's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid suggested that the media should be in line with Sharia and national interests.
Shukria Barakzai is an Afghan politician, journalist and Muslim feminist. She was the ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway. She is a recipient of the International Editor of the Year Award.
Hamida Barmaki was a renowned Afghan law professor and human rights activist. She was killed together with her family in a suicide attack.
Television broadcasts in Afghanistan started in the year 1978. As of 2017, there are around 76 local channels operating in the country; the state television channel is Afghanistan National Television. As with other mass media in Afghanistan, television is regulated by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
Jamila Mujahed is a journalist of Afghanistan.
Tolo News, stylized TOLOnews, is an Afghan news channel and website broadcasting from Kabul. Owned by the Moby Media Group, it was launched in August 2010 as Afghanistan's first twenty-four hour news channel.
Elaha Soroor is a singer and composer from Afghanistan. She participated in the musical reality show Afghan Star, a television program similar to the Idol franchise. She is a member of the Hazara ethnic group of Afghanistan, and a member of the band Kefaya.
Zarifa Ghafari is a former female mayor of Maidan Shahr, capital city of the Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Ghafari was one of the few Afghan female mayors, next to the first Afghanistan's mayor, Azra Jafari and Khadija Zahra Ahmadi, and was also the youngest to be appointed, at the age of 24. She is known for her efforts to advance women's rights in Afghanistan. Ghafari was chosen as an International Woman of Courage in 2020 by the US Secretary of State. She has survived three assassination attempts.
Laila Haidari is an Afghan activist and restaurateur. She runs Mother Camp, a drug rehabilitation centre she founded in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2010. She also owns Taj Begum, a Kabul cafe that funds Mother Camp. Taj Begum is frequently raided because it breaks taboos; the cafe is run by a woman and allows unmarried men and women to eat together. Haidari is the subject of the 2018 documentary film Laila at the Bridge. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.
Sam Mort is currently Chief of Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement for the UNICEF office in Afghanistan, based in Kabul. Afghanistan is in the midst of a Taliban offensive, where the insurgents have now taken over from the elected government. She previously announced that Unicef had made a historic deal to have girls educated in the Taliban-controlled areas of the country in 2020.
Princess Shah Gul Jahan also known as Kubra Jahan Begum but commonly called Princess Kubrah or Princess Kobra, was a royal princess of Afghanistan.
Mursal Nabizada was an Afghan politician, women's rights activist, lawmaker and critic of the Taliban who served as a Member of the House of the People from Kabul. Nabizada was killed in Kabul in January 2023 by the Taliban.
Tamana Zaryab Paryani is an Afghan journalist and women's rights activist known for her protests against Taliban rule in Afghanistan. She is widely recognised as a symbol of the women's struggle in Afghanistan. In December 2022, Tamana was named as one of BBC's 100 Women. She is a member of an Afghan women's rights activist group Seekers of Justice. She fled Afghanistan in August 2022 and now lives in Germany.
Nayera Kohistani is an Afghan women's rights activist. She lived through the first Taliban rule in her country. She was a protester when they came to power again. She left the country in 2022 after being imprisoned and she is a prominent protester against the "gender apartheid" and criminalisation of gender in Afghanistan.
Radio Begum is an Afghan radio station made by women, for women. It was created on 8 March 2021 to coincide with International Women's Day by Afghan entrepreneur and journalist Hamida Aman, and is run by Begum Organization for Women which had been founded on 8 December 2020. It broadcasts live and continuously on Facebook, to Kabul and more rural surroundings, covering approximately three quarters of the country. On 8 March 2024 its sister broadcaster Begum TV was launched in Paris with a grant from Malala Fund, to provide video courses covering the Afghan school curriculum from 7th to 12th Grade by satellite.
References
- ↑ "À Kaboul, Radio Begum, le seul média à fournir un accès à l'éducation des filles". Madame Figaro (in French). 2022-04-11. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- 1 2 3 4 "Resilience amidst adversity: Hamida Aman, founder of women-led radio Begum, empowering Afghan women's voices". Archived from the original on 2024-11-30. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- 1 2 "La fondatrice de Radio Begum, la voix des Afghanes: "Nous sommes sans cesse confrontées à des embûches"". rts.ch (in French). 2024-04-18. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- ↑ "UN rapporteur calls for Taliban's 'gender apartheid' to be codified as crime". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
- ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News". News. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
