What it means to be a woman under the Taliban: Afghan women silenced.

By: Munei Zoe Mbedzi

One would think that after enduring oppression for so long, women would finally get to breathe. But if you are a woman or girl in Afghanistan, your rights have been stripped away as the Taliban uses oppressive rhetoric to suffocate you and silence your voice. Afghan women are not afforded the same access to education as women across much of the world. For many, education is nonexistent. For a woman in Afghanistan, her daily routine consists of waking up, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and mentally preparing to be oppressed all over again.

A protest led by Afghan women and girls. Image via Pinterest.

Afghan women have fought for visibility in classrooms, workplaces, media institutions, and governmental structures. Yet today, women in Afghanistan have no access to secondary or higher education, limited employment opportunities, restrictions on leaving their homes without a male guardian, are forced to dress in full burqas, and are systematically excluded from public life. The patriarchy has tainted humanity within womanhood. Women are forced to submit to the oppressive nature of men—forced to bear children, forced to cook and clean, forced to remain silent, and forced into marriage. We live in a generation that tells us, “It’s not that deep.” But it is that deep; it has always been that deep. And for women in Afghanistan, life is a nightmare. Some of us have the privilege of saying things are not that deep because we are not at the receiving end of oppression this severe.

For a woman in Afghanistan, nothing is an escape from this reality. Sleep is not an escape, because even in your dreams, you are still being oppressed by a man. A woman in Afghanistan was reportedly forced to marry her rapist to be accepted back into society. That alone reveals the brutality of systemic oppression. She had no autonomy. She had no right to choose herself. Afghan women are living in an environment that too often protects abusers while silencing victims. The bruises, broken bones, black eyes, and bloody noses of women seem to hold less value than the comfort and protection afforded to the men who harm them. The Taliban truly is a government built by men, because no woman is benefiting from it.

And yet women remain brave. They remain strong. They remain relentless.

A brutal reminder of the education girls no longer have in Afghanistan. Image via Pinterest.

Although being denied access to education, some women secretly study, learn, and teach one another. Women in Afghanistan need resources, humanitarian aid, and leaders who are genuinely committed to change. They need a government that seeks to liberate rather than oppress; a government that gives women their voices back; a government that wants to see women educated, employed, and free. Women have always been—and will always be—more than child-bearing machines and hands expected to prepare home-cooked meals. Cooking and cleaning are not oppression, but when they are prioritised over education, freedom, and autonomy, they become tools of oppression. Our wombs do not belong to men. When recalling the nightmare of being an Afghan woman, one woman said, “Even breathing becomes difficult.” That leaves us with one haunting question: When will the day come when women are finally seen as fully human?

Edited by: Erin Arends