Lecture Series: Situation of Women in Afghanistan and Obligations of the International Community and Feminist Groups for Changing the Situation

Bluewater Association for Lifelong Learning Presents: Women, Peace and Security. 

This week: Situation of Women in Afghanistan and Obligations of the International Community and Feminist Groups for Changing the Situation

Lecturer –   Nargis Nehan

After taking Afghanistan by force in August 2021, the Taliban has issued more than 90 edicts stripping away all rights of women in Afghanistan. Today girls are not allowed to go to schools beyond grade 6, women are not allowed to work, they are not allowed to visit parks, gyms or beauty salons, they are not allowed to travel without a male guardian. Even if they fall sick and need emergency treatment, taxi drivers are instructed not to transport them, hospitals and clinics are instructed not to treat them, and pharmacies are instructed to not sell them medicine. What is happening in Afghanistan is the worst form of Gender Apartheid, challenging all the international resolutions and conventions related to women’s rights. My lecture is about roots of this institutionalized discrimination, its implications for women’s rights and freedom around the globe and why it is crucial for the world to stand with Afghan women and support them in claiming their rights.