Knight, G. (2022). March for Freedom for Afghan Women and Girls. Flickr.
Author: Zoi Sofologi
Reviewed: Carolina Veloso
Abstract
After the Taliban regime took over Afghanistan, the efforts of women’s rights activists and their achievements were targeted. The draconian measures imposed on women not only restrict them but aim to erase them from every aspect of public life. The regime’s violations of women's rights amount to gender-based violence that experts recognise as a form of apartheid. Beyond oppression, Afghan women face additional challenges such as deportation from host countries, dangerous migration routes, lengthy asylum processes and inadequate international protection. Even though eastern media portray them as “victims in need of saving”, Afghan women have a long history of advocating for themselves, demanding equal opportunities and claiming their right to participate in decision-making processes. This article explores the challenges facing Afghan women activists today in an attempt to shed light on their plight and deconstruct the narrative that victimises them and contributes to their marginalisation.
Introduction
In 1919, King Alah Khan and Queen Soraya Starzi introduced the first women’s rights reform in Afghanistan’s history, granting women the right to vote, encouraging female education and targeting polygamy and child marriage.1 As this article attempts to locate women in the centre of the narrative, it is important to note that despite the reform’s top-down character, elite women in Kabul contributed instrumentally in what is now described as the early years of Afghan women’s “feminist awakening”.2 This progressive empowerment bloomed during the 1970’s – 1980’s when more women entered the workforce and attained university, leading to the first women-led political organisations that marked the shift from “modernisation from above” to “advocacy from below".2
By the early 1990s, an estimated 50% of government workers and university students were women. In 2004, Afghanistan adopted a new constitution that includes articles for gender equality “the citizens of Afghanistan – whether man or woman – have equal rights and duties before the law” (Article 22c)1. Despite lengthy periods of reversals and social opposition to women’s rights, the women of Afghanistan did not stop advocating for themselves and achieving important milestones, like the inscription of the mother’s name in the Tazkira (Afghanistan’s formal identity document) a few months before the Taliban regime overtook Kabul.3
Yet Western media portray Afghan Women in a very different way; covered in dark fabric, moving in crowds, silenced, distanced and vaguely threatening. Especially after the Taliban regime re-established itself as the de facto authorities in August 2021, victimising images of Afghan women and girls accompany information associated with Afghanistan, regardless of the subject. Similar media representations of Afghan women hinder their efforts to advocate for fundamental human rights, as they are often dismissed by the international community and deprived of their right to voice their demands. The purpose of this article is to explore the difficulties facing Afghan Women today in an attempt to deconstruct the narrative surrounding them and honour their resistance in one of the most dangerous places for women in the world.
Social beliefs and cultural dynamics that shaped Afghan society
In a state torn by twenty years of civil war, foreign intervention and intricate social and cultural dynamics, women’s rights were “an intense battleground between different actors for over a century, with periods of promising reforms followed by resistance and often reversals progress.”1 As Afghanistan is an ethnically diverse nation where different ethnic groups and cultural beliefs coexist, governing systems appear to be fragmented, leaving local communities to operate informally, adherent to tribal law. Customary practices and different interpretations of Islamic law by Afghan tribes define strict gender roles and restrict women’s autonomy. Thus, social reforms that began in 1880, such as raising the age of marriage, opening female schools, allowing women to divorce their husbands etc., were “perceived as threatening to the local male dominated power structure following violent resistance and long periods of regression especially for women”.1
Post-war Afghanistan faces a deep humanitarian emergency that lays the ground for the rise of conservatism, reversing the social progress of the 20th century. UN Women surveys reveal that the youngest generation of Afghan men reportedly turned more and more conservative, opposing women’s rights and “seeking rigid gender roles as they struggle to find work and stability in a country ravaged by war and poverty”.4 On this ground, conservative groups gained momentum by portraying women’s rights as “a Western elite concept”, disconnected from rural Afghan women and in conflict with traditional Islamic values. The objectification of Afghan women's rights for political purposes is not a new phenomenon as it goes back centuries and it is one of the factors experts find to contribute to the marginalisation of Afghan Women.1
Gender Apartheid
Today, Afghan women face restrictions in every aspect of their lives. Since August 2021, the Taliban have issued at least 70 decrees, laws and directives imposing severe restrictions on women’s education, employment, movement and dress codes.5 They demand absolute silence and isolation, depriving women of their rights of association, freedom of expression and body autonomy. Apart from the restrictions, the Taliban’s large-scale violations of human rights expose women to physical and sexual abuse, gender based violence, and repressive customary law practices (forced marriage, domestic violence, honour killing) without any legal protection, access to healthcare, or even humanitarian aid.5
As human rights activists and UN experts highlight, the intention behind those restrictions goes further than just a stricter interpretation of religion: “Taliban edicts, policies and practices constitute an institutionalised system of discrimination, oppression and domination of women and girls, amounting to gender apartheid”.6 What differentiates gender apartheid from gender-based crimes is the ideology and systematic methods, as “authorities appear to be governing through systemic discrimination with the intention of suppressing women and girls into total submission".7 Activist groups and humanitarian organisations urge the international community to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute.6 This treaty formally recognises crimes against humanity, making them prosecutable by the International Criminal Court. However, critics doubt that legal action will actually follow this codification, making little difference to Afghan women.8
UN Special Rapporteur Reem Alsalem highlights the regime’s intention “to erase women from public life”, “marginalise them, make them invisible”. Alsalem argues that the reasons behind Taliban laws against women are “misogyny, sexism, and the desire to destroy women” that “can be seen as a genocidal act”.9 As a joint UN expert statement highlights, Afghan women activists are amongst the groups facing extreme danger by those acts, as many protesters report violence, threats and illegal detainment from the authorities.13
Despite the news not making the headlines, Taliban restrictions are not met with just silent approval; Afghan women defy imposed authority in many ways: organising protests in Afghanistan and internationally, sharing their stories online, creating support networks, advocating for their rights, and educating young girls despite the Taliban actively prosecuting activists. It is thus clear that the only group actively defending human rights in Afghanistan is not allied Western forces but “ordinary women from ordinary families”.3 As Naheed Farid, former MP and the youngest Afghan politician, explains in an interview, “Afghan women have been deprived of their basic rights, and that’s why they created an ecosystem among each other to help each other, to nourish the next generation, and not to give up.” 3
Mass deportation from host countries
Afghanistan’s turbulent history, marked by invasions and continuous hostilities along with humanitarian and climate crises, drove millions of Afghans to seek refuge abroad, mainly in Pakistan and Iran and secondly in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.11 Recent developments, though, led to the mass deportation of Afghan refugees from Iran and Pakistan, leaving almost 2 million Afghans homeless, displaced and in fear of persecution.11 Amongst the refugees, Afghan women activists turn to hiding, as for them returning home “only means death,” as Humaira Alim, a former women’s rights activist, said to the Guardian.12
Most of the women’s rights activists who fled Afghanistan have already been imprisoned, tortured, or threatened by the Taliban, and they report being harassed by the Pakistani authorities.12 The government in Pakistan attributes the decision to raising security concerns and economic hardships, stating that they cannot host Afghans “indefinitely”.13 Similarly, refugees that have been forced to return from Iran report violent treatment and torture from the authorities.14 While Iran has periodically been hostile to refugees, the recent 12-day war with Israel led to extreme measures such as building a wall across its borders with Afghanistan. The UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran points out that those deportations violate international law and put vulnerable groups such as women and children at severe risk. 14
About 25,000 Afghans who fled to the US after the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021 also face deportation as the US Government decided to terminate their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2025.15 As the President of Global Refuge highlights, “TPS was never a long-term solution, but its termination without a permanent alternative leaves our Afghan allies in a precarious position”.16 Human rights defenders point out that minority groups, women-led households, and women travelling across borders are exposed to gender-based violence, as there are no safe migration routes from Afghanistan.16 Adding to the challenges, in 2025 the US decided to cut humanitarian aid to Afghanistan with the UN estimating that “In 2025, almost half of the population – some 22.9 million people – will require humanitarian assistance to survive.”15 This crisis disproportionately affects women “as key sectors such as healthcare, education, and social protection which have historically relied on international aid, may face severe disruptions”.17
Research reveals that EU states neglected the needs of Afghan women seeking protection
While their home country actively persecutes them and neighbouring countries gradually deport them, Afghans turn to Europe, which becomes more and more reluctant to resettle Afghan refugees despite many member states pledging to accept a certain number of asylum seekers. As the International Rescue Committee reports, forced deportation practices, difficulties in obtaining legal documents and informal border crossings “entail significant physical and protection risks, especially for women and girls.”18 The challenges facing Afghan Women who seek international protection persist due to lengthy application processes that leave them in legal limbo, “trapped in remote and prison-like facilities” and “preventing inclusion into local communities and devastating their mental health”.18
In 2021, western allies left Kabul without solid measures to protect Afghan girls and women, and until today their approach to the Taliban crimes against women remains incoherent, fragmented and far from adequate. In October 2024, the European Court of Justice recognised that Afghan women are eligible for refugee status based on their gender and nationality, opting for a broader practice that would facilitate the process.19 While this landmark ruling paves the path towards the legal recognition of gender apartheid in Afghanistan, the European Union Agency for Asylum report found that EU member states do not automatically apply the policy to make the application process more straightforward.20 However, the growing support for anti-immigration policies in Europe raises concerns, as it would favour reforms that “could change the practice of granting asylum to Afghan women.”21 Experts find that anti-immigration policies might sideline the Court guidelines by adopting externalisation practices: “the question is whether the bloc’s countries will actually offer asylum to every Afghan woman — or ship them elsewhere.”21
Along with the absence of safe travel routes available to Afghan women, EU integration policies are still far from gender inclusive, further degrading their situation. In refugee transit zones, prison-like camps with poor housing facilities and no safety regulations expose women and girls to gender based violence, as the European Commission’s Directions on reception conditions are “not being met at present, exposing women to further risks”.22 In an attempt to shed light on incidents of gender based violence and insecure conditions, researchers and activists carried out interviews with refugee women, as the vast majority of cases are not formally reported. In those interviews, women express feelings of insecurity while staying in mixed reception centres. They also report sexual harassment from the authorities during their journey, while reception conditions here are found to exacerbate existing forms of gender based violence (domestic/partner violence).22
The inadequate response to women’s needs upon arrival does not differ from the reality of European integration systems. Only four member states have integration programs specifically for women, with the vast majority “failing to recognise women and girls as distinct target groups and prompting activists to ask ‘where are the women and girls?’. The net effect is that Afghanistani women, who would face Taliban persecution at home, are largely invisible in EU programmes.”23 As integration programs are the only means to enter the workforce, learn the local language, go to school or university, the lack of specific programmes for women results in their exclusion from every aspect of society. Thus, gender neutral integration fails to respond to Afghan women’s needs, exposing the reality behind the political commitments that were made to protect and resettle them. 24
Their voices- What are the demands of Afghan women activists today
Marginalised both in Afghanistan’s society and in the West, Afghan women protest not only against the Taliban but also for the recognition of their plight internationally. One of the essential demands of Afghan women is to be included in negotiations with the de facto authorities.3 After the fall of Kabul, Western diplomatic representations remained in Afghanistan, engaging in non-transparent dialogue with the Taliban, who are not internationally recognised as a government. This work is carried out respecting the regime’s conditions – no women at the table. As the former Afghan Minister of Women’s Affairs, Sima Samar, stated: “This situation is an indirect submission to the will of the Taliban. Law, democracy and sustainable peace are not possible without including half of the population of the society, who are women.”25
The importance of recognising the Afghan women’s movement globally also arises from their demand to stop being victimised by Western media. As in many other cases, Western media use the same image for all Afghan women, erasing diversity and individuality from their stories, presenting Afghan women as “victims in need of saving, suggesting all women experience life in Afghanistan the same way, without accounting for their activism and political resistance.”26 This “white saviour” representation is often used to legitimize Western intervention “in the name of liberating Muslim, Hindu or pagan women from their “repressive” societies.”27 The monolithic representation of Afghan women and their different identities and beliefs serves the Western narrative that dictates how they should live, without taking into account that, as women everywhere in the world, they do not necessarily share a common vision of life.27
Fixating on how Afghan women suffer by constantly projecting images that portray them as helpless does not support their cause. Focusing on their "oppression" instead of their brave acts of resistance is further contributing to their exclusion from decision-making, advocacy and politics. One of the direct consequences of treating Afghan women as a monolithic group is making decisions for them, disregarding their real needs and denying them their identity.27 The case of integration for Afghan women could serve as an example to better understand how Western politicians claim to “save” Afghan women without including them in the process. As a result, abandoning paternalistic approaches is essential to build capacity so that Afghan women activists can advocate for themselves, use their own words to describe their experiences and have pathways to safely report violations of their rights.
Deconstructing the “white saviour” narrative
After Western troops departed, diplomatic fragility prevailed in Afghanistan. As the general engagement with the de facto authorities in the region remains incoherent, recognising gender apartheid as a crime against humanity and leveraging it against the Taliban is an approach many experts criticise as short-sighted. Not recognising the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan affects vulnerable groups more than the Taliban leadership, pushing the Afghan people further into isolation and poverty. Afghan advocacy representatives and academics find that “by looking away from Afghanistan, we are allowing the Taliban to fully implement their agenda”.24 Thus, keeping Afghanistan in the public discussion arises as an imperative to support the Afghan women’s movement.
Afghan women not only claim their basic human rights but also their “space” as scientists, leaders, politicians, entrepreneurs, etc. UN expert Reem Alsalem explains this demand: “We really should allow for Afghan women to claim the space, irrespective of where they come from and also irrespective of what political views they hold.”, “We have to support really women-led organisations, women leaders to continue to operate, to continue to exist.”28 She further argues that support is not always financial and it should aim at helping Afghan women develop the skills they need to better advocate for themselves: “It’s not just building their capacity to negotiate but facilitating the space and platform where Afghan women can directly negotiate with the Taliban.”28 Reem Alsalem and other experts’ work does not express their views on what the international community “should” do, but establishes an ongoing dialogue on women’s demands. As she explains: “What we've heard from the women is also that they want to be able to make their own security assessment. The U.N. and others are seeing how to make sure that women can be part of the needs assessments when it comes to humanitarian and recovery programs.” 28
It’s not just building their capacity to negotiate but facilitating the space and platform where Afghan women can directly negotiate with the Taliban.”
– Reem Alsalem, UN expert
Addressing the needs of a state in a multi-layered humanitarian crisis requires a deep understanding of the population’s needs and, most importantly, a decision-making process that includes them directly. In Afghanistan this crisis was labelled by media as a “humanitarian mission” fixating on “saving Afghan women”; “It was a narrative which was also front in 2001 when the administration of US president George W. Bush launched the “war on terror” and the invasion of Afghanistan, with his wife Laura claiming that the fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women”.27 Consequently, acknowledging the different identities and needs of Afghan women and understanding the political and historical context that contributes to their oppression is essential in order to change this narrative.
Highlighting Afghan women’s demand to be involved in the processes that directly impact their lives should be part of every advocacy attempt, leaving out victimising representations of the same group that confronts the armed Taliban on the streets, holding nothing but signs with the words “work, bread, freedom”.
Deconstructing the “white saviour” narrative is part of the effort to empower the Afghan women’s movement, which has a long history of brave advocacy that contributed to social transformation in Afghanistan. Highlighting Afghan women’s demand to be involved in the processes that directly impact their lives should be part of every advocacy attempt, leaving out victimising representations of the same group that confronts the armed Taliban on the streets, holding nothing but signs with the words “work, bread, freedom”3. Generalisations and stereotypical representations of “the other” have a long history in the West, but in the end “with or without the Taliban, Afghan women are the only ones who are able to resist their oppressive conditions. Therefore, we should listen to how they believe we can best help”.27
Key Summary
Afghanistan’s social reforms began as early as 1919, when Afghan women gained the right to vote for the first time. The complex social and cultural dynamics transformed women’s rights into an intense battleground for regional and international actors.
The first women-led grassroots organizations appeared in 1970-1980, advocating for Afghan women despite considerable opposition. Afghan women’s advocacy gained momentum, especially after 2000, and continues to resist oppression in Taliban-led Afghanistan.
The danger facing Afghan women today goes beyond authoritarian measures and is often characterised as “gender apartheid” by the UN and other experts. Their resistance is also threatened as Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis deepens, along with mass deportation of Afghan citizens, growing rejection of asylum applications and dangerous migration routes.
Afghan women are facing existential threats inside and outside of Afghanistan and yet they continue to advocate for a seat at the negotiation table, international protection and support for their plight.
Besides sympathy, what Afghan women activists demand is to be seen as who they are and not as a voiceless monolithic group that serves the Western “saviour narrative”, silencing their voices.
References
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28.Hannun, M. (2020). From Kabul to Cairo and back again: The Afghan women’s movement and early 20th century transregional transformations. Clio. Femmes, Genre, Histoire, 51, 25–44. https://doi.org/10.4000/genrehistoire.5017