By Kylie Jennings
Do you wear what you want? Are you allowed to work without being married? What about the public places you go?
You are allowed in public, right?
Those are luxuries often overlooked. Many women in Afghanistan are currently dealing with many issues, especially some of the ones listed above. While most of those things seem like the bare minimum for human rights, these are unnegotiable for women in Afghanistan. All of the progress made toward women’s rights and freedom in Afghanistan has taken significant backward steps ever since 1979.
Women in Afghanistan must follow a strict dress code, which includes wearing a burqa. A burqa is a type of Islamic veil that covers a person from head to toe, including the eyes. Wearing a burqa is not inherently a problem, but women are being forced to wear them against their will. If they don’t, they may be fired from their job, detained, arrested, or worse.
Women’s rights in Afghanistan could have gone in a very different direction. In 1973, Mohammad Daoud Khan led a coup d’etat which overthrew his cousin, King Mohammad Zahir Shah. Khan then proposed a new constitution that would guarantee more rights and freedoms to women. Wearing a burqa would have been a choice. Women would actually have rights and freedom! Could you imagine that? Wearing a burqa was a choice. If women really wanted to, they were allowed to wear short shirts and short sleeves, something that could get women killed nowadays. Women were teachers/educators, students, workers in major industries like private corporations, doctors, airlines, and so much more. They were allowed to vote, have equal rights and freedom of speech, and be allowed in public spaces. The age of marriage and consent was also raised.
Unfortunately, this progress was tragically lost in 1978 when Mohamand Khan was assassinated in another coup d’etat. The change in leadership and the subsequent Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led to social regression and a decline in women’s rights.
Recently, there have been many incidents that seem surreal. A group of women were told by officials at the Vice and Virtue Ministry that if they wanted to keep their healthcare jobs, they had to get married. They stated it was “inappropriate for an unwed woman to work.” In October of 2023, three female healthcare workers were detained for going to work without a marham. These women could only be released after getting written permission from their families. Not only are they denying women healthcare work, but they are also denying them healthcare access. Women need mahrams to be treated.
There also aren’t any blatant laws or anything about male guardianship, but there are certain things that you aren’t allowed to do safely as a woman without a man. One of these things is simply traveling outside of your home without a male figure related to you either by blood or marriage.
Furthermore, the strict dress code enforcement also led to many beauty parlors being closed down and many arrests for not complying. The Ministry, serving as the Taliban’s morality police, has heavily enforced this dress code, going as far as to stop and check women in public places or even in work and educational settings. These spots have become “checkpoints” for inspections.
It is truly tragic to see how the progress was seemingly all for nothing. All across the world, everything that women specifically have worked for is going away in horrifyingly strong waves. Women all around the world are slowly being stripped of their rights and freedom.
Iraq lowered the age of consent for females to the age of nine. The United States cut access to basic healthcare services and general reproductive/anatomical rights for women, such as the legalization of abortion or even access to contraceptives. Somalia’s employment rate for women decreased from 68% to 23% in 2021 and only continues to decrease. El Salvador has been imprisoning women for having miscarriages and has no access to abortions.
Similar to issues in Afghanistan, Iran has had similar issues regarding women’s dress code. Masha Amini was a 22-year-old woman who died from a severe skull fracture after being arrested for wearing her hijab ‘too loosely’ and showing hair. Amini’s death sparked many protests and controversies. These protests led to mass police violence against the protesters, who were primarily women, resulting in 185+ unfortunate deaths and over 1,000 others majorly injured. Iran also has a court system that favors men in divorce and custody courts. Saudi Arabia has imprisoned female speakers such as Loujain al-Hathloul. Despite their reform, women still need male authority figures’ permission to do much.
Maybe one day, all these problems will go away again. The most we can do now is raise awareness; educate yourself and others. Many programs are out there, such as Woman for Afghan Women (WAW), the Center for Human Rights (CHRI), and many more.
How scary it must be to live as a woman today.
