KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – A recent UN report reveals that a majority of Afghan women (64%) feel “not at all safe” leaving their homes without a male guardian, a 7% increase from the previous report.
The joint report, conducted by the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), UN Women, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in April, was recently published. The UN interviewed 888 women across 33 provinces and 64 men across 14 provinces, both online and in person.
The report’s findings indicate that both Afghan women and men believe the international community should establish formal mechanisms to ensure women’s inclusion in international decision-making forums concerning Afghanistan’s future.
“59 per cent of women and 36 per cent of men consulted indicated a desire to see a quota of 50 per cent for women representatives among Afghan participants in any discussions on Afghanistan’s future,” the report found.
According to the report, only 4% of Afghan women surveyed supported international recognition of the Taliban government. Both men and women indicated that such recognition would not improve conditions for Afghan women.
The UN report found that Afghan women rarely engage with Taliban authorities on issues important to them, with 80% reporting no interaction in the past three months, while 16% indicated they had engaged.
The report indicates that 45% of women believe the international community should facilitate direct talks between them and the Taliban authorities to improve their situation in Afghanistan.
Regarding their influence on community decision-making, only 2% of women reported having “good” or “full” influence. “Women highlighted that they are often excluded from public meetings and unable to directly engage with local authorities, forced to instead rely upon male family and community members to advocate on their behalf,” part of the report reads.
According to the report, 42% of women noted that their relationships with male family members had deteriorated, observing a conservative shift in attitudes towards women’s freedoms that aligns with the Taliban’s restrictive policies.
“This disparity, unsurprisingly, indicates that women are more affected by – and aware of – the way in which gendered restrictions negatively impact their relationships with male family members,” the UN report said.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have steadily imposed repressive measures against women and girls in Afghanistan. Under their rule, women are prohibited from working in the public sector and for NGOs, pursuing secondary and university education, traveling long distances without male relatives, and accessing parks, public baths, and gyms.
UN experts, legal scholars, and activists all say that the Taliban’s oppression of women and girls amounts to a system of apartheid, designed to deliberately subjugate them based solely on their gender.
Despite substantial calls and pressure from the majority of the world, including Islamic countries and organizations, for the Taliban to uphold the fundamental rights of women and girls, the fundamentalist regime argues that their policies and practices are grounded in Islamic Sharia law and Afghan traditions.
