Women

A recent law has come into force in Afghanistan, causing worldwide shock and outrage: women are not permitted to hear each other’s voices.

Afghanistan is governed by an Islamic fundamentalist group called the Taliban. The Taliban controlled the majority of the nation in the late 1990s but were knocked from power in 2001 by a US-led invasion. They regained power in 2021, following the withdrawal of US troops in line with their 2020 peace agreement.

The BBC reports that the group’s initial popularity was gained through their elimination of corruption, restoration of lawfulness, and improvement of safety for trading and business. However, the Taliban also introduced laws which saw oppressive rules imposed on women. Large attention was drawn to the Taliban in 2012, when Malala Yousafzai was shot in an assassination attempt. Malala was shot on her school bus after being continually outspoken regarding the education of girls, something the Taliban was seeking to prevent.

Since their return to power, a ban has been placed on the education of girls beyond sixth grade, affecting all girls over the age of twelve. UNESCO reports that 2.5 million girls have been deprived of their education, representing 80% of school-aged girls in Afghanistan.

Other recent laws have also included a ban on women speaking or showing their faces in public. The Guardian reported on this, outlining the Taliban’s intention of preventing women from leading men into “temptation”, their voices being deemed as “potential instruments of vice”. Women who fail to comply with these terms may be detained and punished however Taliban officials see fit.

The most recent ban on women hearing one another has been reported by an Afghan independent media outlet, Amu TV. Khalid Hanafi, the Minister for Virtue and Prevention of Vice, declared that women were to refrain from performing Takbir, an Islamic prayer, or reciting the Quran in the presence of other women. As women are also barred from speaking in public, their ability to speak to one another has virtually vanished.

The response has been widespread, with activists and international organisations amongst the many that have been outraged by these laws. Meryl Streep, speaking at the UN, stated that “a female cat has more freedoms than a woman”, as women and girls cannot feel the sun on their faces or go into parks. The UN itself has responded to the devastating situation, calling it a ‘gender apartheid’, as its laws, policies and practices create extreme inequality for women, reflecting the core of apartheid systems. UN experts have stressed that it must be recognised as a crime against humanity, as other gender-specific crimes such as gender persecution do not encapsulate the institutionalisation of their deprivation of rights.

The Taliban’s laws have largely been protested by Afghan women, as reported by Reuters. More recently, protests have taken to social media, as those in the streets have resulted in detention and physical assault for many women advocating for their rights. CBS News interviewed three women who participated in this online campaign, with one stating that the Taliban fear the power of Afghan women, and that their “voices will destroy them” by continuing to speak out for themselves.

The Taliban has responded to the outrage. They claimed that the reports of the law are “brainless”, with a spokesman for the Ministry for Virtue and Prevention of Vice stating that “women need to interact” and that they “do have their needs”. They did still note their guidelines under Islamic law, including instructions for women to communicate with hand gestures rather than raising their voices during prayer.

Despite the outrage, the Taliban is continuing to operate as Afghanistan’s government. Aljazeera reported on the group sending a delegation to the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, the first time since their return to power. As the Taliban does not possess official recognition as Afghanistan’s government, the group was invited by Baku’s government, the host of the summit.

Although the Taliban has tried to deny it, their laws are causing a destruction of liberty to the women and girls of Afghanistan. The serious infringement of articles in the European Convention of Human Rights, such as article 14, prohibition of discrimination, cannot be ignored by the international community (p.13). It is unlikely that the Taliban’s adverse position in global politics will change anytime soon.

Editor: Leah Russon Watkins