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The treatment of women by the Taliban refers to actions and policies by various Taliban regimes 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 (1996–2001), the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. Since 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. The Taliban allowed, and in some cases encouraged, marriage for girls under the age of 16. Amnesty International reported that 80 per cent of Afghan marriages were forced.
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 takeover of 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 2022, Freedom House rated Afghanistan’s freedom as 10 out of 100.
Women's rights in Afghanistan have oscillated back and forth depending on the time period as well as the regime in power. After King Amanullah Khan's attempts to modernize the country in the 1920s, women officially gained equality under the 1964 Constitution. However, these rights were taken away in the 1990s through different temporary rulers such as the mujahideen and the Taliban during the Afghan civil war. During the first Taliban regime (1996–2001), women had very little to no freedom, specifically in terms of civil liberties. When the Taliban was overthrown by the United States following the 9/11 attacks, women's rights gradually improved under the presidential Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Women were de jure equal to men under the 2004 Constitution.
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.
Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician, writer, and women's rights activist. Originally from Badakhshan province, Koofi was recently a member of the Afghan delegation negotiating peace with the Taliban in Doha Qatar. She is an ex Member of Parliament in Kabul and was the Vice President of the National Assembly.
Roya Rahmani is an Afghan diplomat who served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the United States and non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic from December 2018 to July 2021. She is currently the Chair of the international advisory company in development finance — Delphos International LTD. She is also a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, and a senior fellow for international security at the New America Foundation. From 2016 to 2018, she served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to Indonesia, first ever ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and non-resident ambassador to Singapore.
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.
Farahnaz Forotan is an Afghan journalist and women's rights activist. She moved to Iran together with her family during the Mujahideen regime. Farahnaz returned to Afghanistan in 2001, but took refuge in France in 2020 after being included on a Taliban hit list.
The People's Peace Movement or Helmand Peace Convoy is a nonviolent resistance grassroots group in Afghanistan, created in March 2018 after a suicide car bomb attack on 19 March in Lashkargah, Helmand Province. The PPM calls for the military forces of both the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to implement a ceasefire and advance the Afghan peace process. The group marched across Afghanistan to Kabul, where it met leaders of both parties and conducted sit-ins in front of diplomatic posts, before continuing its march to Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif, arriving in September 2018.
Protests in Afghanistan against the Taliban started on 17 August 2021 following the Fall of Kabul to the Taliban. These protests are held by Islamic democrats and feminists. Both groups are against the treatment of women by the Taliban government, considering it as discriminatory and misogynistic. Supported by the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the protesters also demand decentralization, multiculturalism, social justice, work, education, and food. There have been pro-Taliban counterprotests.
MahboubaSeraj is an Afghan journalist and women’s right activist.
Charlotte Bellis is a New Zealand journalist who previously reported for Al Jazeera. Bellis attracted media attention in August 2021 after interviewing a senior Taliban leader Abdul Qahar Balkhi following the fall of Kabul. In early 2022, Bellis attracted media attention in New Zealand and abroad after highlighting her difficulty in returning home due to the country's tough COVID-19 border restrictions.
Najiba Ayubi is an Afghan journalist and activist for human rights and freedom of the press.
Crystal Bayat is an Afghan social activist and human rights advocate known for her protests against the Taliban takeover, advocacy for women rights and political activism inside and outside Afghanistan. A native of the Ghazni province, Shia (coming from the Bayat family, a Turkic ethnicity minority. Bayat was born in 1997 in Kabul. She grew up most of her life with democracy and positive societal changes. She is currently continuing the fight to preserve Afghan human right's achievements as an agent of change.
Zahra Joya is an Afghan journalist. She is the founder of Rukhshana Media, an outlet in Persian and English which she runs from exile.
Gaisu Yari is an Afghan human rights activist, women's rights activist, writer, blogger and speaker. She is considered as one of the prominent campaigners for women's rights in Afghanistan. She is also well known for her bravery for taking on the Taliban directly by questioning their policies.
Events in the year 2023 in Afghanistan.
Tamana Zaryab Paryani is an Afghan journalist and women right's 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 called Seekers of Justice. She presently lives in Germany after fleeing from Afghanistan in August 2022.
References
- ↑ Vick, Karl (2022-05-23). "Hoda Khamosh: The 100 Most Influential People of 2022". Time. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
- ↑ Martyr, Kate (2022-03-24), The Afghan activist taking on the Taliban online, Deutsche Welle, retrieved 2023-01-21
- 1 2 "'My heart and body shake': Afghan women defy Taliban". France 24. 2022-02-15. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
- ↑ Malekian, Somayeh (2022-02-03). "Afghanistan's women's rights activists tested Taliban in Oslo, but expect few advancements". ABC News. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
- ↑ "BBC 100 Women 2021: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2023-01-23.