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In the years since, dozens of decrees have continued to severely limit Afghan women’s and girls’ rights, freedoms, and their dignity.
These restrictions are not temporary.
Not one has been reversed.
The most severe women’s rights crisis in the world is being normalized.
The latest data from our regular door-to-door surveys shows that, despite systemic and continuous limitations on their lives, 40 per cent of Afghan women still imagine a future where change and equality are possible.
This hope is a lifeline and a political strategy.
It is a personal act of resilience and resistance, even as 75 per cent of the more than 2000 women we interviewed described their mental health as ‘poor’, or ‘very poor’.
As Afghan women hold fiercely to this hope, the introduction last year of the so-called ‘morality law’ was a defining turning point in Afghanistan – crystallizing the systematic erasure of women from public life.
It codified long-held social norms, existing for generations in some parts of the country, into a rigid system of control.
It is already reshaping daily life.
Our analysis shows family and community members and even businesses are now policing women’s behaviour themselves – driven by social pressure and fear of Taliban reprisals.
This is how normalization works: it is woven into the fabric of everyday life.
Although Afghanistan’s security incidents have remained low, the tragedy is that women’s security has not.
Women continue to feel – and often are – unsafe in public places, and in their communities or families, and are unable to reap the benefits of an increase in the overall security situation since the takeover.
When it comes to education and employment, women and girls are still barred from high schools, universities and most jobs, devastating a generation of young Afghan women.
Earlier this year, UN Women found that nearly 80 per cent of young Afghan women are not in education, employment or training, compared to 20 per cent of men.
Exclusion harms women, and it also harms their families, communities and the country as a whole.
Women continue to be systematically excluded from political and public life.
The continued social and economic exclusion of women is projected to cost Afghanistan an estimated USD 920 million between 2024 and 2026.
Four years into the takeover, the de facto Cabinet remains entirely composed of men – a pattern that is mirrored at the sub-national level.
Some women have engaged informally with local and national de facto authorities to raise concerns about their communities and organizations.
But there are no institutional mechanisms for women to have a say in decisions affecting their lives.
In 2021, the Taliban introduced a decree enshrining women’s right to inheritance and banning forced marriages. This is a narrow foothold to build on.
However, sadly, many women and men we consulted were unaware of the decree. And most felt the decree had not changed society’s long-held practices.
The return of Afghan women and girls from Iran and Pakistan is further deepening the women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan.
Already this year, more than 1.7 million Afghans have returned – many forcibly.
Women and girls represent one-third of returnees from Iran so far in 2025, and about half from Pakistan.
Many return to no home, no income and no access to education or healthcare – arriving in communities already stretched to breaking point by the economic crisis and climate shocks; and where their choices and freedoms are restricted.
They urgently need both humanitarian assistance and long-term support to rebuild their lives.
And they can only access this support through women humanitarians, as this is a context where they cannot interact with men aid workers.
Since 2021, women-led organizations have been on the frontlines in Afghanistan delivering services such as healthcare, psychosocial support and protection from violence.
But, across civil society organizations surveyed by the UN in March this year, half of all women staff had already lost their jobs due to funding cuts.
More than one-third of organizations reported that, if the current situation continues, their ability to reach women and girls will be severely reduced being forced to scale back or shutdown.
No doubt, Afghan women and girls are bearing the brunt of global aid cuts in the country.
Despite this very difficult picture, Afghan women are still resisting.
Afghan women continue to find ways to operate in this environment, negotiating carefully within the margins to run their businesses, find ways to educate themselves, help others access support, and raise their voices in important international meetings.
Many are able to do this because of donor funds to support them – funds which are reducing.
Many still imagine a different future.
If we ignore the tightening strictures on Afghan women and girls, we send a message that this is normal; and that the rights of women and girls everywhere are disposable, or irrelevant.
We cannot accept the denial of their rights as the new normal.
We must keep investing in their NGOS, their businesses and their voice in international dialogues.
We must stand up for all women and girls in Afghanistan.
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