“There is no such thing as women’s freedom anymore, the women in Afghanistan are being slowly erased from society, from life, from everything – their opinions, their voices, what they think, where they are.”
Mahbouba Seraj, Afghan women’s rights activist and 2023 Nobel Peace Prize nominee
In the 1990s the Taliban, a radical Islamist group ruled Afghanistan until October 2001, when U.S. and allied forces ousted the regime. However, on August 15th, 2021, the Taliban took power after the US withdrew from Afghanistan.
Since the takeover, Afghan women have been deprived of the most basic pleasures life can offer any living being. Secondary schools for girls have been closed, and Afghan women have been banned from attending university and hindered from working at NGOs, including the United Nations. In addition, Afghan women have been restricted from traveling without a male chaperone and banned from public spaces such as parks and gyms.
Just last month the Taliban shut all hair and beauty salons across the country and destroyed thousands of dollars worth of musical instruments deeming it ‘immoral’. The beauty industry had employed roughly 60,000 women some of which were sole providers for their families.
UN reports that there have been widespread reports of depression and suicide, particularly among teenage girls who have been prevented from pursuing an education.
The Taliban’s extremism puts the life of Afghan women at risk of death because, under the Taliban’s rules, women can only receive health care from other women. Hence, the ban on women’s higher education means female medical students will be unable to finish their studies and graduate creating a shortage of female doctors, midwives, and nurses for these women.
It has been reported by the UN that since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, more than 1.6 million Afghans have fled their home to face the uncertainty of migrating to a foreign land. However, leaving their home seems a better option as the International community’s passivity to their situation leaves their future obscure.
