More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Gender apartheid, the most extreme form of gender discrimination, has left Afghan women feeling like the walls are closing in.
At the center of this issue is the question of justice. Because the spaces for women are so slender and the oppression of women so pervasive and institutionalized, almost any act can be characterized as an act of resistance in Afghanistan today.
In a nationwide women’s consultation, Afghan women have expressed ‘dread’ and ‘anxiety’ over the potential international recognition of the de facto authorities (DFA), with 67 percent stating it would severely affect their lives.
Among the participants, a majority stated that if such international recognition were to occur, it should only be contingent upon the removal of all restrictions in place by the Taliban against Afghan women and girls.
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghan people—especially women and girls—have lived under harsh edicts and orders. Yet a U.N. assessment released last month does not mention the Taliban by name once. Although it describes the issue of women’s rights critically, it does not make any recommendations concerning women’s rights—except to say the current system violates the U.N. Convention to Eliminate Sex Discrimination. Incredibly vague phrasing sums up the overall message of the report.
The United Nations’ commitment to ending gender apartheid must not waver.
Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the United Nations’ special coordinator for Afghan affairs, said last week that “good progress had been made in Afghanistan, and there is a “misunderstanding” between the international community and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
If gender apartheid is a misunderstanding, then it should be immediately recognized by the United Nations so the Taliban can be held accountable for their actions against Afghan women and girls.
The Taliban has introduced a cloak of fear and violence that threatens the rights, freedoms and livelihoods of the women and girls fighting to survive under looming security threats, humanitarian crises and gender apartheid in Afghanistan.
