Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls, new research shows, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) said today. The organizations looked at the conditions for women since the Taliban took control in Ghazni province, in southeastern Afghanistan.
Since taking control of the city of Ghazni on August 12, 2021, days before entering Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban have imposed rights-violating policies that have created huge barriers to women’s and girls’ health and education, curtailed freedom of movement, expression, and association, and deprived many of earned income. Afghanistan’s rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis exacerbates these abuses. Following the Taliban takeover, millions of dollars in lost income, spiking prices, aid cut-offs, a liquidity crisis, and cash shortages triggered by former donor countries, especially the United States, have deprived much of the population of access to food, water, shelter, and health care.
“Afghan women and girls are facing both the collapse of their rights and dreams and risks to their basic survival,” said Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, a core faculty member of SJSU’s Human Rights Institute and a scholar on Afghanistan. “They are caught between Taliban abuses and actions by the international community that are pushing Afghans further into desperation every day.”
Human Rights Watch and SJSU remotely interviewed 10 women currently or recently in Ghazni province, including those who had worked in education, health care, social services, and business, and former students.
They described spiraling prices for food staples, transportation, and schoolbooks, coupled with an abrupt and often total income loss. Many had been the sole or primary wage earner for their family, but most lost their employment due to Taliban policies restricting women’s access to work. Only those working in primary education or health care were still able to work, and most were not being paid due to the financial crisis.
The Taliban have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education, and altered curricula to focus more on religious studies. They dictate what women must wear, how they should travel, workplace segregation by sex, and even what kind of cell phones women should have. They enforce these rules through intimidation and inspections.
“The future looks dark,” said one woman who had worked in the government. “I had many dreams, wanted to continue studying and working. I was thinking of doing my master’s. At the moment, they [the Taliban] don’t even allow girls to finish high school.”
The women said they had acute feelings of insecurity because the Taliban have dismantled the formal police force and the Women’s Affairs Ministry, are extorting money and food from communities, and are targeting for intimidation women they see as enemies, such as those who worked for foreign organizations and the previous Afghan government. Most interviewees cited serious mental health consequences since the Taliban takeover, including fear, anxiety, hopelessness, insomnia, and a deep sense of loss and helplessness.
“The crisis for women and girls in Afghanistan is escalating with no end in sight,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Taliban policies have rapidly turned many women and girls into virtual prisoners in their homes, depriving the country of one of its most precious resources, the skills and talents of the female half of the population.”
Ghazni province, in southeastern Afghanistan, has a population of about 1.3 million people, predominantly ethnic Pashtun and Hazara. The provincial capital, Ghazni, is on the road from Kabul to Kandahar, and was often attacked during the fighting of the past 20 years.
SJSU and Human Rights Watch conducted interviews remotely, using secure communications, with women currently in Afghanistan, all of them from Ghazni province. Most were in Ghazni province; a few were in other parts of Afghanistan. Most of those in Ghazni province were living in Ghazni city but some were in other parts of the province. The interviewees had worked in education, health care, government, and nongovernmental organizations or had been higher education students. Interviews were conducted in Dari with the consent of the interviewee. Seven of those interviewed are Hazara, one Pashtun, and two members of an ethnic minority group.
The value of the Afghan currency, the afghani, has fluctuated rapidly since the Taliban takeover. It was about 120 afghanis to 1 US dollar at the time of the research, and we have used this exchange rate for conversions.
Nearly all the women interviewed who previously had paid employment had lost their jobs. “In Ghazni [province], only female healthcare workers and teachers can go to work,” a nongovernmental organization worker said. “Women working in other fields are forced to stay home now.”
“A few days after the Taliban took over Ghazni and Kabul, Mullah Baradar [a senior Taliban leader] said that women can go back to work,” a government worker said. “I went to work, but I was not allowed to go in. The Taliban members said, ‘We don’t need women to work anymore. You should not come back until further notice.’ But we are breadwinners of our families.” Her last paycheck was in July, and she is losing hope of being paid. “We used to go to show attendance, but they asked us to stop that as well.” She said some of her male colleagues were also dismissed and most government offices were closed because they did not have qualified staff.
Those still working have largely not been paid because health care and education were almost entirely financed by foreign donors, whose aid has been cut off. The only interviewee being paid regularly was working for an international nongovernmental group. “We haven’t been paid for more than five months,” a midwife said. “It’s very hard to manage for nurses and service staff because we don’t have any other source of income. The doctors have their private clinic or healthcare center. I personally find it very hard since I’m the breadwinner.” As of early January she still had not received her salary.
While primary schools for girls are open, the teachers have not received their salaries. A primary school teacher who is the main wage earner for her family of 10 said: “It’s been three months that we haven’t been paid. We go and teach, but nothing.” Her salary was 5,500 afghanis (US$46) per month and she previously supplemented this by teaching at a private school, but the private school also stopped paying teachers. She spends 300 to 350 afghanis ($2.50 to $2.90) a month for transportation to work, money she now takes from savings or family members.
“UNICEF has taken the responsibility to pay the teachers, but we don’t know when and how,” she said. This teacher later received one month’s salary from her principal, but no back pay, and did not know the source of the payment.
Taliban restrictions have compounded the financial crisis for women. The owner of a business exporting products produced by female farmers said the farmers are no longer allowed to work, the products cannot be exported, and the farmers she sources from cannot afford transportation costs. “The Islamic Emirate [the Taliban government] does not allow women to work; even the women farmers cannot work on lands,” she said. “They used to work with us, but they all must stay home now.”
The financial crisis has decimated even paid work within the home. “We would weave or do embroidery – there was a market for that,” one woman said. “Now there are no jobs, no buying and selling. People have no jobs, no motivation and hope.”
A single mother who has not been paid for five months borrowed 10,000 afghanis ($83) from a cousin living in Saudi Arabia for a birthday celebration for her young daughter. “I want her to know that at the height of poverty, I care about her birthday and happiness,” she said.
The Taliban have imposed new restrictions on women’s dress and conduct, which affect every aspect of their lives, including their career options. “Women can only become teachers or nurses, nothing else,” the government worker said. As the Taliban took control, new rules were imposed immediately. A health worker described going to work on the day the Taliban took over her city. “When I was trying to pass, they didn’t allow me to go,” she said. “They said you don’t have a mahram [male family member chaperone], and you’re not wearing a burqa.”
Women dress carefully to avoid the Taliban’s notice. “I wear a burqa, and my life has changed so much,” a former nongovernmental group worker said.
“The Taliban government has affected our daily lives,” a student said. “In the past, when I would come to Ghazni, I would wear the same dresses as in Kabul, and I could go around the city on my own. But now we are required to wear a burqa, and our commute to the town is restricted.”
A primary school teacher said she and her colleagues changed their dress to avoid Taliban abuse. “In the past we had a particular uniform. …It’s just long dresses now. …Long dresses, burqa, no high heels, and no sandals.”
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, said in an interview in Kabul on September 7 that being accompanied by a mahram would only be required for travels longer than three days, not for daily activities such as attending work, school, shopping, medical appointments, and other needs. Interviewees said they are usually not required to have a mahram, but there seem to be new pressures by the Taliban on taxi drivers not to transport women traveling alone.
The ambiguous rules and atmosphere of fear encourages caution and impairs freedom of movement. “It’s affecting our morale watching the Taliban’s behavior with women,” one woman said. “In cases when they beat women, it’s hard for women to think of leaving their houses without a mahram.
“For now, we aren’t asked to have a mahram,” a former nongovernmental group worker said. “But I take my husband with me because I’m not sure. In Kabul, they seem to be more tolerant currently. In other provinces, they make a problem for those who don’t dress up and comply with their rules.”
“We don’t leave our home much,” a government worker said. “When we leave, we leave with a mahram. Some things like sanitary pads must be purchased by women themselves, but it’s hard to do it with a man accompanying us. …Women can’t take transport, they either must go out with a mahram or walk. They should walk with burqa, no heels, no makeup.”
Not everyone has a mahram available. “Most women bring their mahram when they visit my mother,” said a woman whose mother runs a home-based tailoring business. “But some women do not have their mahram, as their men work in other countries. There’s no jobs for men in Ghazni or Afghanistan. They’ve gone to Iran or other neighboring countries for work.”
Unmarried women linked the potential need to have a mahram and increased pressure to marry. “Thankfully, in Ghazni having a mahram is not an issue yet,” a single woman said. “If we are forced to walk with a mahram, I will stay home. Who can agree to a forced marriage? I have brothers [who could serve as mahrams], but they’re married and are busy with their own lives.”
When women are allowed to work, their workplaces operate under new Taliban restrictions. A health worker said her boss arranged a meeting with a senior Taliban official. “The hospital assembled all female staff to tell us how we should behave after this,” she said. “How we should dress, and how we should work separately from the male personnel. We were advised to talk to male personnel in an insolent manner and angry tone, not in a soft tone, so that we don’t evoke sexual desires in them.”
There were also new requirements to wear a burqa and a long dress. “The white uniform was to be worn over the dress,” the health worker said. “It’s so hard to walk and work with a long dress as a nurse,” adding that they sometimes need to run when handling emergencies. She tried to switch back to her normal uniform – trousers, knee length tunic, and lab coat – after a few days but was reprimanded and threatened with dismissal.
In the meeting, she said Taliban members refused to speak with the women. “They’d ask male personnel’s opinion,” she said. “But when it came to women, they said, ‘Whatever problem you have, don’t raise your voice. Don’t talk to us, write your problems so we can read them…Men should not hear women’s voices.’”
Restrictions on women’s access to technology harm their access to information, including health information. “Women are asked to not carry smart phones,” a health worker said. “They said women should keep simple Nokia phones that don’t have many options.”
A government worker said the Taliban told male shopkeepers and tailors that they may no longer interact with women, and women had been told they should sew their own clothing rather than go to a male tailor. The new rules for dress and conduct – including that woman should not socialize outside their houses – were sent in writing to the mosques, an interviewee said. Men also face restrictions, she said, including not being permitted to wear non-traditional clothing or shave their beards.
A business owner said she tried to join Chamber of Commerce and Investment meetings but was turned away. She was allowed to attend a conference on women’s business, but women were separated from male attendees with a curtain and not permitted to speak. “Around five or six men spoke in the event – they were from the Ministry of Commerce, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, and the Ministry of Culture,” she said. “The exhibition was held symbolically – with women brought to show.” She gave a media interview at the conference, but it was not released. “The Ministry of Culture will edit the news before any media can publish their reports. … Our media are being censored now so that they couldn’t publish the conference report.”
Rules are enforced through Taliban inspections. “The cleaning staff said they come around sometimes and ask about the teachers’ clothing,” a primary school teacher said. “The guard would tell them, ‘Yes, they wear hijabs, both teachers and students.’ The principal tells us to be more careful with our clothing and hijabs.”
“Men with local clothing come and check the personnel and the hospital,” a health worker said. “We don’t know if they are Taliban or not.
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