The Invisible Half: How Taliban Policies Erase Afghan Women from Society
Nowadays, Muslim women in Afghanistan are experiencing unexampled social, economic and political isolation due to Taliban rule. A well-planned repression campaign has disappeared women in society since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. This is not a co-incidental effort but a calculated move that is being applied by crafting a number of brutal policies and decrees that inhibit free movement of women, education and work opportunities and access to healthcare. The effects of the said policies are far-reaching and affect not just individual women, but even the whole of Afghan society and their future.
The Architecture of Erasure
Legal Framework of Oppression
Since their rule, the Taliban have released more than 50 edicts against the rights of women. These are policies that govern all the activities concerning women, including dress code and even traveling. In public, women must cover their faces, are not allowed to travel without the permission of the male guardian, and in many cases are not allowed to speak during their outings. The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice as the moral police of the regime enforces these rules.
Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, condemned these acts, stating,
“The Taliban practice institutionalized discrimination, segregation, and exclusion. Women are subjected to violence and incommunicado detention for disobeying dress codes.”
His warnings indicate that these policies are not societal norms but legally enforced practices aimed at keeping women out altogether.
Afghan women are still barred from schools, work, even hospitals, unless accompanied by a man. Beauty salons shut, radio stations silenced. Afghan women deserve more than sympathy, they deserve rights, safety, and a future.🌿🙏 pic.twitter.com/H7P1p52EFl
— WDI.Afghanistan (@WDIAfghanistan) June 20, 2025
The legal construct isolates women in the society as well as confining them in their homes. This official discrimination has turned into an instrument to help the Taliban extend their grip of power by intimidating half the population through fear and oppression.
Global Ranking of Oppression
The situation is alarming in Afghanistan as one of the most gender unequal nations in the world. Under the recent world gender equality rankings, out of 115 nations, Afghanistan is the 114th position with a score of 17.3 percent of the availability of rights and opportunities to women. This is extremely low compared to the average in the whole world which stands at 60.7%, hence the magnitude of gender-based exclusion.
The women in Afghanistan are obtaining a quarter of the results attained by men in health, education as well as economic participation. This gap is directly caused by Taliban policies that have undone the achievements of the last two decades in a very systematic way.
Education: The Targeted Erasure of Futures
From Classroom to Prison
The injunction to the girls which is secondary and higher education is one of the most devastating policies. Afghanistan is the last nation in the entire globe where ladies cannot go to school past primary levels. More than 1.1 million girls are also now not permitted to take secondary education and this number constantly increases with the ban still on stage
.Richard Bennett, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, condemned these acts, stating, “The Taliban practice institutionalized discrimination, segregation, and exclusion. Women are subjected to violence and incommunicado detention for disobeying dress codes.” His warnings indicate that these policies are not societal norms but legally enforced practices aimed at keeping women out altogether.
This educational distribution is not only a policy but it is an act to eliminate the potential and appearance of women. Uneducated young women run in a circle of poverty and dependency and they cannot help to rebuild their country.
Economic Consequences of Educational Exclusion
The prohibition on education has chain effects on the economy of Afghanistan. According to the estimates made by experts, loss of female education costs the country nearly 2.5 percent of its annual GDP. This is the amount of productivity and innovation that national education of women would add to the labor market.
The late outcomes are outlined by Catherine Russell, the Executive Director of UNICEF:
“Without the educated women, healthcare systems crumble and the rate of maternal deaths skyrockets.”
Lives and well-being of whole communities are at risk.” The shortage of female health workers, who are required in many cases by education and training, has a direct impact on the treatment of the medical condition of women, especially in conservative regions where only male doctors get an opportunity to examine female patients.
Economic and Humanitarian Devastation
Workforce Exclusion and Poverty
Women’s participation in the workforce has plummeted under Taliban rule. Before 2021, approximately 19% of Afghan women were employed in formal sectors. Today, that number has dropped to an estimated 5%. Many sectors where women once worked—such as beauty salons, which employed around 60,000 women—have been shut down.
The Taliban’s December 2024 decrees further barred women from working in NGOs and banned medical training programs like nursing and midwifery. These policies have crippled Afghanistan’s healthcare system and left many women without livelihoods.
Human Rights Watch reports, “Women’s access to formal employment is now nearly impossible, pushing many into extreme poverty.” This economic exclusion exacerbates the humanitarian crisis, with 23 million Afghans dependent on aid. Women, disproportionately affected by poverty and food insecurity, bear the brunt of this crisis.
Collapse of Healthcare and Rising Maternal Mortality
The ban on female medical training has dire consequences for healthcare access. Women are often unable to seek medical treatment without a male guardian, and the shortage of female healthcare providers limits services in many regions.
Maternal mortality rates have surged as a result. The United Nations notes that women report feeling “unsafe, isolated, and powerless” amid collapsing health services. The lack of trained female health workers means many women give birth without adequate medical support, increasing preventable deaths.
Resistance and International Response
Afghan Women’s Defiance
Despite the oppressive environment, Afghan women continue to resist. Many operate underground schools, run covert businesses, and deliver humanitarian aid despite the risks.
UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous praises their resilience:
“Afghanistan’s greatest resource is its women and girls. Their courage reshapes communities despite immense restrictions. We must stand with them.”
Women’s advocacy groups demand the restoration of education, work, and political participation. They call for international engagement that prioritizes their inclusion in decision-making processes and human rights protections.
Global Condemnation and Diplomatic Efforts
The international community has condemned the Taliban’s gender apartheid. Sixteen women foreign ministers from the EU, Germany, Sweden, and other countries issued a joint statement declaring Afghanistan “the world’s most oppressive country for women.” They highlight that Taliban policies violate international agreements such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated, “Afghanistan will never take its rightful global place without educated women in leadership.” Despite these strong words, the Taliban continues to restrict access for UN investigators and block efforts to engage with women.
International pressure remains inconsistent, with geopolitical interests often overshadowing human rights concerns. The lack of a unified global strategy has allowed the Taliban to maintain its oppressive policies with relative impunity.
The Broader Implications
The disappearance of Afghan women in the society has impacts beyond the borders of Afghanistan. Half of the population in the country lacks access to education, employment and the opportunity to participate in government, which jeopardizes the stability of the region and world security.
Such loss of women as voices and talents discourage the reconstruction of Afghanistan and causes a chain of poverty, violence, and radicalism. Unless the international community responded adequately to this crisis, it would compromise gender-based oppression and undermine universal standards on human rights.
The Urgency of Action
The future of women in Afghanistan by 2025 is terrible. There is a risk that in the absence of rapid and long term international intervention in regard to the rights of women, the progress won in the past 20 years will be gone in the next generation.
The reinstatement of education and work as well as the reinstitution of the political inclusion of women is fulfilling not only the moral but also practical needs of the future of Afghanistan. The determination of Afghanistan women is a sign of hope, yet they require the help of the world to emerge from the systematic rub-out by the Taliban.
