Afghan Women’s Fight Against Gender Apartheid: A Plea for Global Recognition

In the wake of the Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan, activists are urging the United Nations to formally recognize the systematic oppression of women and girls as “gender apartheid,” a term coined in the 1990s by Sima Samar, a former Afghan minister for women’s affairs. Samar, now living in exile, expressed disbelief that these conditions have re-emerged, calling for justice against what she describes as persecution and systematic repression of Afghan women.

The campaign initiated at the end of 2023 aims to categorize the Taliban’s actions as crimes against humanity. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed more than 80 edicts that severely limit the freedoms of women and girls, including barring girls from secondary education and women from numerous forms of employment.

Sima Samar told reporters, “Gender apartheid is a crime against humanity under international law since 1973. Swap the word ‘racial’ for ‘gender’ and this is what is happening to Afghan women and girls.” The Taliban’s laws require women to be fully covered in public and stifle their participation in society, with strict punishments including public stoning for certain alleged offenses.

Mariam Safi, founder of the digital data platform BISHNAW, which collects evidence from Afghan women on the impact of Taliban policies, highlighted the importance of data. “What is harder to ignore is data and evidence of the impact of the Taliban’s rule on women inside Afghanistan,” she said, emphasizing the role of data in influencing international policy.

BISHNAW, which uses telephone surveys and interviews, recently gathered responses from over 3,600 women across 19 provinces, indicating that 60% wished for the UN to label their situation as gender apartheid. The findings pointed to increased child marriages and restricted access to humanitarian aid for women since the Taliban’s rise.

Azra Jafari, Afghanistan’s first female mayor and a prominent advocate for women’s rights, shared her insights on the exodus experienced by Afghan women leaders. She poignantly described the stark difference from her mayoral tenure when women’s roles in public and political spheres were emerging strongly, which has now been dramatically reversed.

“Half of the population of a country is barred from public life, and the world doesn’t do anything about it,” Jafari lamented, critiquing the muted response of the international community. She conveyed a profound sense of betrayal by Western forces for abandoning Afghan women in their quest for liberation.

The international response, or lack thereof, to these conditions remains a subject of deep concern for activists like Jafari and Samar. The potential UN recognition of gender apartheid is seen as a necessary step towards holding the Taliban accountable, though the ultimate impact remains uncertain.