The lives of all Afghans were turned upside down by the Taliban takeover on 15 August 2021. But for women and girls the situation has been particularly devastating, as their rights and freedoms have been stripped away by progressively restrictive decrees, creating a system of ‘gender apartheid’ and placing many under virtual house arrest.1
The authorities’ de facto enforcement of a strict interpretation of sharia law regulates where women can go and how they should dress. Many women and girls are unable to go out in public without a male blood-relative as escort. Girls cannot be educated past elementary school. Women can no longer work in most professions, with only a few exceptions in gendered sectors such as midwifery. This has left women-headed households desperate and impoverished. Yet, many women are still daring to protest, resist and speak up.
