On August 15th, the Taliban captured the capital city of Kabul, confirming its full takeover of Afghanistan. This comes after the withdrawal of foreign forces following a deal made between the U.S and the Taliban. The new resurgence of power comes twenty years after the U.S originally removed the militants from power in 2001, which was the result of a gruesome conflict that killed millions of Afghan people. Now that the Taliban have established their power in Afghanistan, they promised to install a government that would follow the framework of Islam. However, citizens remain worried and confused as to what this means. For those who lived through the first Taliban regime, memories spark fear that they will return to a place of little to no freedom of expression, minimal employment, poor security, and, more specifically, gender inequality. The freedom and rights of women and young girls in Afghanistan are once again in limbo, and families worry for the safety and future of their girls.
Since the Taliban took power in August, women and girls of secondary school age have been prevented from returning to school until a “safe learning environment” could be established. This comes after promises made by the Taliban that education and work opportunities will be given to women and girls. However, even among government officials, the question as to when this will happen remains unclear. This lack of clarity has ignited fear and worry in Afghan women, one familiar to many of those who recall the regime of the 1990s, where women were barred from attending school or teaching positions.
After the radical Islamists were ousted from power, school attendance rose tremendously among girls, with more than 3.6 enrolled in school by 2018– over 2.5 million enrolled in primary school and over 1 million in secondary school. According to UNICEF, the number of girls in secondary school was particularly significant, with almost 40% enrolled in 2018, compared to a mere 6% in 2003. The number of women in university also jumped, up until recently in the tens of thousands, young women were studying to be doctors, lawyers, journalists, and scientists. In 2015, Kabul university even launched a master’s degree in women and gender studies. Now, the Afghan people await the Taliban’s actions, hoping that they will stay true to their word. In an interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, founder of the first all-girls boarding school, stressed this point, stating that “[the Taliban] have to walk the talk, [right] now they’re not doing that.” Young girls in secondary school have also expressed their concern about when they would be able to return to school. In an interview with a local Afghan news source, ToloNews, secondary student Maryam Madina voiced her worry about being able to attend post-secondary school, as she says “I wanted to pursue higher education, but when there is no school, there will be no university.” She asks the government to reopen schools for girls.
Moreover, while girls sit at home, wondering what will become of them in the future, boys have been able to return to school and continue their studies. Even prior to the takeover by the Taliban, Afghanistan has had one of the most severe education gender gaps in the world; girls represented 60% of the 3.7 million children out of school. Now, the militant group plans to implement gender-based segregation in schools and other institutions around the country, where girls are to only be taught by female teachers. However, even the proportion of female educators is dwindling, with only a third of all teachers in Afghanistan being women. This would not meet the demand of gender-segregated schools and makes the likelihood of girls regaining a proper education all the more strained. Furthermore, Waheedullah Hashimi, a senior Taliban official close to the leadership, extended that women will be needed in sectors such as medicine and teaching and that separate institutions such as hospitals, schools, universities, and madrassas will be established exclusively for their use. Whether the Taliban will actually go through with these projects remains in question. For the time being, curtains have been used to separate classrooms between men and women, and as for the lack of female teachers, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the Taliban’s higher education minister, stated that girls will be taught by women wherever possible, but if need be, men could step in to teach them if the proper measures of separation were adopted. Regardless, gender segregation would be mandatory.
Female employment has also been on the decline as many women in public positions, such as journalists in radio and television, have been asked to stay home and not to return to work. According to Rukhshana Media, an independent Afghan news organization, female reporters and journalists have disappeared from radio and television in the Western provinces of Herat, Badghis, Ghor, Farah, as well as the capital city, Kabul. According to a report released by Reporters Without Borders on October 1, of the 510 women working in Afghanistan’s biggest newsrooms, only 76 remain. Women are also being discouraged from other sectors as well. Hashimi told the Reuters Foundation that the full implementation of Sharia law would mean the ban on women from working in government positions, media companies, banks, and many others. Even in the few sectors in which women are allowed to own businesses, such as beauty and cosmetics, female business owners have experienced a rapid decline in demand and are feeling less and less inclined to work due to safety concerns. According to interviews conducted by Rukhshana Media, hair salons in Kabul have seen a rapid decline in clientele, which consisted of professional women and girls, and in certain cases have even had to disguise their establishments as non-descript buildings so as to not attract attention. This is the case of Roya Mohebi, a local beautician in Kabul who had to redesign her salon once she was able to reopen and only made herself known to her clients. Prior to when she was allowed to reopen, she would work in secrecy and go to clients’ homes for appointments. Women in security sectors have also been targeted. On September 29, Major Alia Arefi, director of the women’s prison in Herat, disappeared after receiving a phone call from an unknown caller. While she had worked in the prison system for 15 years, her disappearance came shortly after she took on the position of director. Earlier that month, female police officer Negar Nasumi, who worked in the Ghor provincial prison, was shot dead in her home in front of her children. In both instances, the Taliban claimed no responsibility. The group had told local media that both cases would be investigated but to no avail. The lack of responsiveness has sparked particular fear in the lives of Afghan women over their safety and well-being.
This recent government takeover by the Taliban has unearthed fears and worries that many Afghans hoped to lay to rest. What seems to be the most worrisome is the sheer uncertainty of what is to become of Afghanistan, and more specifically its women and girls. However, what is evident is that there is anger in the voices of Afghan women, a want for justice. They have been stripped of the rights that they fought so long to obtain, and some have taken to the streets in protest. Demonstrations by women have erupted across Afghanistan, demanding their civil rights, and with social media, their anger has been spread around the world. What is yet to be seen is whether this fury will be strong enough to bring about change in the country.
Edited by Mehak Balwani
