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Let Afghan women lead
Rather than simply admire their courage or sympathize with their plight, the international community must offer them support, safety and a seat at the table.
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Afghan women stage a protest for their rights at a beauty salon in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on July 19, 2023. (AFP/-)
T
his year’s International Women’s Day is marked by a sense of foreboding, even despair. Progress on women’s rights and representation is stalling: the number of women in parliaments grew last year at the lowest rate in a generation, and the global financing gap for gender initiatives remains wide.
At a time of widespread democratic backsliding, and with United States President Donald Trump freezing foreign aid, including for gender initiatives, the prospects for improvement appear bleak.
No one understands the consequences of such setbacks better than women and girls in Afghanistan, where some of the world’s most severe gender-based rights violations are occurring. And yet, Afghan women also offer compelling reasons for hope and powerful motivation, especially for those of us who enjoy rights, freedoms and opportunities they do not, to keep fighting.
Afghan women have long had to find imaginative ways to resist and circumvent harsh repression. In the late 1990s, as the Taliban consolidated control of the country and imposed regressive policies, women established underground schools, community centers and health clinics.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Afghan women have renewed such initiatives. For example, they have set up secret schools, which girls, who are now prohibited from education past the sixth grade, can attend in person or online. Where such classes are not accessible, mothers often educate their daughters at home, using their phones or tablets to access the necessary materials.
Forbidden from speaking outside their homes, women have used social media and the press to tell their stories. Unable to protest peacefully without facing violence from the authorities, women have embraced creative forms of resistance, depicting their experiences and demanding change in poetry, paintings and film. Sahra Mani’s moving documentary, Bread & Roses, which provides a glimpse into Afghan women’s efforts to resist Taliban repression, has earned international acclaim.
We are from Afghanistan, but we were fortunate to have the opportunity to restart our lives in a new country, where we can advocate for our sisters back home without fear for our personal safety. But the heroines of Bread & Roses, and countless other Afghan women activists, face mortal danger every day. It is thus imperative that we do not stop at listening to their stories.
