This article is authored by Khyatee Ahuja & Chaitanya Vohra, The authors are Junior Editor and Research Assistant at CASIHR respectively.
Women’s rights have been a largely hot and trending topic in recent times, with significant events taking place all across the globe. From Karnataka’s hijab ban in India to the Taliban’s College ban on Afghan women, there are innumerable instances on the global as well as on the local front whereby we witness women’s rights being compromised on a day-to-day basis. From a subtle bias on the side of employers to provide job opportunities to men to an apparent law restricting women from being independent and individualistic beings, we often ignore how women’s rights are violated in different spheres of life. Hence, a sense of perspicacity and awareness needs to be introduced amongst the common masses so as to avoid any sort of restraint from holding back modern-day women.
Timeline of Women’s rights in Afghanistan
The struggle for gender equality has spanned time and space, making the history of women’s rights extensive and diverse. Women have fought to achieve the same rights and benefits as men from the early civilizations of China and India to the current Western world.
In ancient Mesopotamia, where women held important roles in society and had the legal capacity to possess property and enter into contracts, one of the first instances of women’s rights is found. But as time went on and societies grew more patriarchal, women’s rights started to deteriorate. Women didn’t start to rebel against these limitations and demand equal rights until the 18th and 19th centuries. Many women who battled for women’s rights were part of the abolitionist movement, which sought to end slavery. Susan B. Anthony, who devoted her life to ensuring that women could vote, is one of the most well-known people associated with this campaign.
Women all around the world started to demand equal treatment under the law as the women’s suffrage movement gained traction in the 20th century. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which gave women the right to vote, was adopted in 1920. In many parts of the world today, women continue to face discrimination and inequality in a range of settings, such as the workplace, the classroom, and in politics. Women are now fully participating in numerous societal activities that were formerly off-limits to them thanks to advancements in the field. Now that we have looked upon the history of women’s rights in a global sense, we need to understand and critically analyze the history of women’s rights in Taliban specifically as it constitutes as a major factor in the circumstances prevailing in present day Afghanistan.
In context of Afghanistan, women’s rights have often been limited due to the country’s tumultuous political and cultural history. During the early 20th century, women in Afghanistan gained some rights, including education and employment outside the home. However, this progress was halted by the Soviet invasion and the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s. Under Taliban rule, women were not allowed to attend school, work, or leave the house without a male relative and were required to wear the burqa. Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, women have made some gains in terms of their rights, including education and participation in politics, but they still face challenges including violence, limited access to healthcare and education, and discrimination in the workplace. Despite these obstacles, Afghan women have fought for their rights and continue to strive for equality
In conclusion, women around the world have fought for equal rights and opportunities throughout the long and complicated history of women’s rights. Even while there has been significant advancement, more has to be done to guarantee that all women have access to the same opportunities and rights as men. The living example is the situation in Taliban whereby Afghan women are not allowed to join universities, attend school past 6th grade, work in most of the jobs, travel long distances without men, and have restricted access to public spaces. With such extremely conservative law and order system, the Afghan women would be left to suffer under the cruel and oppressing environment. Hence, there is an ever-increasing need to cultivate the seeds of awareness amongst the general masses.
THE RENEGED PROMISES
It’s not been two years since the Taliban came into power and took control of the Afghan territory and they have already gone back on their promises made to the International Community regarding their seriousness in ensuring due enforcement of the human rights of the Afghan citizens. The greatest harm bearers of these broken promises are the women community of Afghanistan now has been completely stripped of their public life and identity. Coming off as moderate and peace-promoting administration, the Taliban government made huge claims about restoring and protecting the rights of women in Afghanistan including upholding the shari’a laws for women like the liberty of employment and education. What was observed was the exact opposite, draconian laws and regulations were imposed by the authorities severely curtailing the basic human rights of women which restricted their access to education, healthcare, right to form associations and caused great harm to the financial, political, mental and social strength of the women community.
On September 12, 2021, the Taliban declared that women will be able to join colleges with gender-segregated classes while donning mandatory hijabs. However, the administration prohibited females from entering secondary school in March 2022. Girls’ secondary schools were scheduled to reopen on March 23, 2021, following months of shutdown enforced following the Taliban occupation. The organisation forced them to close only hours before they were scheduled to resume. In a recent move, the department of higher education has imposed an immediate ban on Afghan females attending university, according to a letter sent to all private and government colleges. Hibatullah Akhundzada, Taliban’s Supreme Leader issued an edict requiring females to cover their whole bodies in public, even their faces. Such a step has invited condemnation and scrutiny from the international community and human rights organisations.
Under the Taliban, women’s access to public venues was severely restricted. They were barred from accessing all Kabul parks on November 10. Afghan women are no more permitted to be employed in the majority of occupations. After seizing control in August 2021, the Taliban forced employed women to keep indoors, claiming they were unsafe amid the troops. This has led to serious financial and mental implications as women found themselves financially dependent and could no longer support themselves.
STATE LAW AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
The Taliban have abolished human rights monitoring systems like the Afghan “Independent Human Rights Commission”, as well as specialised tribunals for gender-based violence and victim assistance programmes. The Taliban has eliminated the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, a major entity responsible for promoting the rights of women through the legal system. In its stead, the new dictatorship established the infamous Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which has been key in limiting the rights of women.
Afghanistan contested for a seat in the Asia Pacific State category in the United Nations Human Rights Council for the term 2023-25. The United Nations General Assembly voted for the inclusion of member states for the above-said term but Afghanistan lost the election and was not granted a seat at the UN Human Rights Council. The Human Rights Council seat would have enabled the Afghan people’s concerns and voices to be heard internationally if Afghanistan had won the election. At a time when numerous nations in the international community are concerned about the deterioration of human rights in Afghanistan and the transgression of women’s rights, Afghanistan conceded in the elections for the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Afghanistan is a party to various United Nations Conventions such as the International Convent on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Convention on Civil and Political Rights which were ratified by the country in 1983. It also ironically ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women in 2003 but the current de facto administration of the Taliban has failed to uphold the same in any form since it came to power in 2021.
Way Forward
In accordance with their responsibilities under international human rights legislation, the Taliban should provide full gender equality and protect the human rights of all women and girls. The Taliban should be pressured by the UN and other international organisations, foreign governments, and other organisations, particularly the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the upcoming UN Special Reporter on Afghanistan. Donors should talk to the Taliban about how they are violating women’s and girls’ rights in Ghazni and all around the country, and they should work to end the humanitarian crisis without putting women’s and girls’ rights last.
As we have just witnessed the Taliban imposing college ban on Afghan women, the global community needs to strongly criticize the Taliban government for implementing such unfair and unreasonable laws. While the Taliban may try to justify their conservative law and order system, the society needs to have a fair idea of the conditions of Afghan women and their respective opinions about such wicked law. There is an increasing need to ignite the candles of hope and optimism amongst Afghan women.
To address the issue of Taliban’s ban on education for girls and women, several steps can be taken by UN agencies such as UNHRC etc. These include increasing access to education, promoting gender equality, strengthening the rule of law, engaging community leaders, and seeking international support. Apart from stating such suggestions based on theoretical aspect, we need to execute and implement such steps as well. This can be achieved by establishing an active support system with the Afghan women whereby they have an ability to form their opinions and communicate it to the whole world. Moreover, several countries can exert pressure on the Taliban Government to abstain from forming such harsh and absurd laws by the virtue of international relations, imposition of various bans on the country, and dialogue. These efforts can help to create a more equal and just society and support the rights and education of women and girls in Afghanistan.[1]
