UN Women warns Taliban to exclude women entirely from Afghan society, public life

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – UN Women in a press release issued on Monday warned that in 2021, an Afghan woman could have run for president although none did. Now in 2025, they can’t even speak in public. There is an edict from the Taliban which labels public speaking by women a moral violation.

Taliban took power on 15 August 2021, UN agency is warning that the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan is increasingly untenable.

It said that without urgent action, this untenable reality will become normalized and women and girls will be fully excluded.

“The Taliban is closer to achieve its vision of a society that completely erases women from public life,” the press release said.

It noted that the edicts which the Taliban have passed restricting women and girls’ rights interact together to create an inescapable cycle which relegates women to private spaces and increases their vulnerability.

In most cases, including for humanitarian workers, women are not allowed to move freely in public without being accompanied by a mahram, or a male guardian.

Taliban has also banned women and girls from secondary and higher education.

UN women stressed that these two edicts have profound ramifications at all levels of society. Not only is it functionally impossible for women to receive educational degrees, it is also unduly difficult for them to get jobs and enter into training programmes.

Over 78% of Afghan women are not in education, employment or training.

Half of the work force is not contributing to the economy in measurable ways, a huge problem for a country whose economy has been devastated by sanctions and climate shocks.

The agency stressed that it’s not just the economy which is suffering. In some cases, these edicts can literally be a matter of life or death.

“The results are devastating. Women are living shorter, less healthy lives,” the UN agency said.

Healthcare if women are not allowed to enter higher education, they cannot become doctors. And if women are banned from receiving treatment from male doctors which they are in certain regions they cannot expect to live healthy lives.

UN Women estimates that impediments to receive healthcare for women in Afghanistan will increase maternal mortality by 50 per cent by 2026.

Child marriage has become more common, and women are increasingly subjected to violence, inside and outside of their homes.

It is not just in public that women’s voices are being excluded 62% of women feel that they cannot even influence decisions at home.

UN Women emphasized that despite having little to hope for, Afghan women remain resilient. They continue to look for moments of solidarity and hope for a different future.

One woman whose grassroots leadership organization lost all of its funding in 2022 continues to work to support women in smaller ways.

“I will continue to stand strong as a woman, supporting other Afghan women. I go to remote areas and collect [women’s] stories, listen to their problems and this gives them hope. I try my best and that also gives me hope,” she said.

In total, since 2021, 100 edicts which restrict how women and girls move through society have been instituted and enforced. In four years, not a single one has been overturned.

Susan Ferguson, UN Women’s representative in Afghanistan, said that this lack of progress must be understood beyond the Afghan context.

“This is not only about the rights – and futures – of Afghan women and girls. It’s about what we stand for as a global community,” Ms. Ferguson said.

“If we allow Afghan women and girls to be silenced, we send a message that the rights of women and girls everywhere are disposable. And that’s an immensely dangerous precedent,” she concluded.