Examining the Present Status of Women and Girls in Afghanistan: A Return to the Late 1990s?

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29 December 2021.

Mohammed C.

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Navigating between illusion and reality: a short history of Taliban policy towards women

Navigating between illusion and reality: the present policy of the Taliban towards women

Conclusion

Following the withdrawal of the last remaining US troops from Afghanistan during the summer of 2021, the Taliban launched a nationwide offensive resulting in the capture of most of the country’s provincial capitals, major cities, and districts. Being virtually unopposed, the offensive culminated in the then-President, Ashraf Ghani, fleeing the country[1] and the Taliban seizing Kabul,[2] merely a few months after it had begun.

While many commentators have understandably focussed on the rapid nature of the Taliban’s victory and the chaotic scenes that followed, including the evacuation of more than 120,000 foreign citizens and vulnerable Afghans,[3] one question remained unanswered: now that the Taliban had returned as the de-facto ruler of Afghanistan for the first time since 2001, how would they choose to govern the country?

The aim of this article is to examine the policies that the Taliban have adopted towards women and girls since their return to power. To better understand the present policies of the Taliban, it is necessary, in the author’s view, to consider their policies towards women during the period spanning 1996-2001 when the Taliban last ruled Afghanistan.

Navigating between illusion and reality: a short history of Taliban policy towards women

During the period of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996-2001), the Taliban adopted a severely restrictive approach to the education of women and their participation in Afghan society. It is often observed that the Taliban’s treatment of women is rooted in a particularly radical interpretation of Islam, but this view is over-simplistic. In reality, the Taliban’s approach towards women is based, not only on a particular interpretation of Islam, but also on Pashtunwali (a term that is difficult to define, but which broadly refers to the traditional cultural rules, norms, and codes of conduct that are prevalent in Pashtun culture).

During the late 1990’s, the Taliban promulgated an astonishingly wide range of laws that eroded the basic rights of women. For example, under the guise of the preservation of women’s honour,[4] the Taliban banned women from obtaining employment outside of the home and from leaving their homes without a male family member as a chaperone.[5] They also enforced strict dress codes that mandated the wearing of the burqa.[6] Because of laws relating to gender segregation, women’s access to basic medical care was severely curtailed as male doctors were legally prevented from treating female patients.[7]

Although it is important to recognise that many Afghan women may have voluntarily chosen to wear a burqa, the ascension of the Taliban to power in 1996 nonetheless triggered a paradigm shift. More specifically, for the first time, dress codes were mandated by law and choice was no longer an option, with widespread reports of women deemed to have failed to adhere to the restrictions being subjected to intimidation, fines, and even public beatings.[8]

It is noteworthy that these examples represent just a sample of the laws restricting the freedom of women that were introduced by the Taliban during their first period ruling Afghanistan. The Taliban unleashed an arguable tsunami of other rules and regulations, many of which have been widely reported on in mainstream US and UK press outlets, such as rules outlawing female beauty salons.[9] However, such reports often unwittingly understate the Taliban’s commitment to the near-total erasure of the presence of women from public life. Reports from women living under the previous Taliban regime suggest that the Taliban enforced informal bans on women appearing on the balconies of apartments or houses and attending public bathing facilities. In addition, it has been reported that the Taliban systematically sought to rename locations that referenced women, such as by altering the title, ‘women’s garden,’ to read ‘spring garden’.[10]

Such measures contributed to a radical departure from the position that many women enjoyed in Afghanistan prior to the advent of the Taliban regime. The US Department of State estimated that around 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers and university students, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women in the early 1990s.[11] However, as a consequence of the single-minded policies of the Taliban, women increasingly became all but invisible in Afghan society.

Most pertinently for present purposes, the Taliban effectively banned the education of girls over the age of eight in 1997.[12] As noted by Kate Clark, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, the Taliban were acutely aware that ‘education and literacy are so strongly valued in Islam that the Taliban could not ban girls schools on Islamic grounds, so they always said they would open them when security improved.’[13] Unsurprisingly, the Taliban never opened secondary schools for girls during their previous regime, citing security concerns.

The author is acutely aware of the many shortcomings of the US-led intervention in Afghanistan, but one unambiguously positive result was the rise in female students attending primary and secondary schools. In a recent report, UNESCO noted that the number of ‘girls in primary school…increased from almost zero in 2001 to 2.5 million in 2018’ and that the female literacy rate had ‘almost doubled in a decade’ to around 30% in 2018.[14] Given the consistent history of the Taliban’s oppressive policies towards women, it is therefore unsurprising that the return of the Taliban to power in mid-2021 has resulted in wide-spread concerns relating to the future status of women and girls in Afghan society.

Navigating between illusion and reality: the present policy of the Taliban towards women

Upon gaining power earlier this year, the Taliban attempted to reassure the international community that the rights of women would be guaranteed[15] and that ‘[o]ur sisters, our men have the same rights.’[16] The Taliban also actively encouraged women to join the government[17] and subsequently issued a ‘decree on women’s rights’ which outlawed the forced marriage of women.[18] For some observers, these statements appeared to signal that the Taliban had changed their attitudes towards women. Yet, despite these public statements, it has become increasingly apparent, in the author’s view, that there is a jarring disconnect between the illusory and vague public rhetoric of the Taliban and the emerging reality on the ground in Afghanistan.

In mid-September, for example, the Taliban reopened secondary schools across Afghanistan for male students, but omitted any mention of the resumption in secondary education for female students.[19] When pressed on the matter, a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, noted that ‘in the case of schools (for female students), the Ministry of Education is working hard to provide the ground for the education of high school girls as soon as possible, work is under way on the procedure, and it is hoped that this will be done.’[20] It is noteworthy, however, that Mr Mujahid would not commit to a timeframe to achieving this aim. In the months since this statement, reports suggest that only a small handful of secondary schools in the north of Afghanistan are currently teaching female students.[21]

Furthermore, while some may perceive it to be encouraging that the Taliban have permitted any female students already studying in universities across Afghanistan to continue their studies,[22] the Taliban have nonetheless imposed strict rules relating to the segregation of genders and have committed to evaluating the content of university curricula. This development must be contextualised as the Taliban have violently cracked down on protestors demanding equal rights and have dissolved the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.[23]

Similarly, despite early assurances that women should join the Taliban-led government, subsequent statements by the Taliban have confirmed that women are barred from holding ‘high-ranking posts.’ In addition, it is apparent that women’s participation in the Cabinet has been ‘ruled out,’[24] a fact that was all but confirmed when the Taliban announced that their first cabinet was comprised, predictably, of only men.[25] In the author’s view, this pervasive disconnect between the Taliban’s rhetoric and the reality on the ground in Afghanistan is unsurprising given the Taliban’s prior history of seeking to deflect criticism by using indirect means to effectively marginalise women and girls.

Conclusion

Despite empty rhetoric to the contrary, it is apparent that the Taliban’s return to power has triggered a radical regression in the freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan. Consequently, the author argues that it is incumbent on the international community to ensure that the unconscionable position which existed under the previous Taliban regime does not re-emerge.

Article tags: | intersectionality | feminism | heritage |

In the author’s view, the pervasive disconnect between the Taliban’s rhetoric and the reality on the ground in Afghanistan is unsurprising given the Taliban’s prior history of seeking to deflect criticism by using indirect means to effectively marginalise women and girls. Image source: Sajjad Hussain / AFP

Although it is important to recognise that many Afghan women may have voluntarily chosen to wear a burqa, the ascension of the Taliban to power in 1996 nonetheless triggered a paradigm shift. More specifically, for the first time, dress codes were mandated by law and choice was no longer an option, with widespread reports of women deemed to have failed to adhere to the restrictions being subjected to intimidation, fines, and even public beatings. Image source: Parwiz / Reuters

The Taliban have violently cracked down on protestors demanding equal rights and have dissolved the Ministry of Women’s Affairs. Image source: Wali Sabawoon / AP

It is often observed that the Taliban’s treatment of women is rooted in a particularly radical interpretation of Islam, but this view is over-simplistic. In reality, the Taliban’s approach towards women is based, not only on a particular interpretation of Islam, but also on *Pashtunwali* (a term that is difficult to define, but which broadly refers to the traditional cultural rules, norms, and codes of conduct that are prevalent in Pashtun culture). Image source: Chris Pook / Shutterstock

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