The fight for women’s rights is an ongoing battle worldwide. No place in the world can boast of having accomplished gender equality. There are times when progress accomplished over many years has been undone in a matter of months. Such are the circumstances for women in Afghanistan whose rights have been diminished following the Taliban takeover in August 2021. Afghan women have fought for freedom and equality for generations. Before the takeover, their progress was evidenced as women were visible in all parts of society ranging from law and politics to daily life on sidewalks and in schools. They may not have achieved gender equality but they were making progress in the right direction. All of the progress accomplished over many generations was quickly undone by the Taliban. In the two years they have been in power, they have issued numerous edicts. Among those edicts, 54 are directly aimed at women and girls. This doesn’t come as a surprise as one of the first orders the Taliban enforced was for women to stay home. This action foreshadowed the events that would occur over the following two years. At this point and time, the Afghan women’s movement is dedicated to fighting for visibility and for their voices to be heard. They want the world to know that they are present and what is happening to them. Women have been banned from going to parks, gyms, and public bathing houses. They have lost the right to education beyond sixth grade. They are limited in what jobs they can pursue, mainly limited to working only in health and education.
This phenomenon is not unique to Afghanistan. In other countries around the world, women’s rights are being restricted as well. The erasure of decades of progress on gender equality and women’s rights in months should be troubling to us all as the fight for women’s rights remains global.