Afghanistan was once on track with progress and development, but overnight everything changed.

In August 2021, nightmare became reality. The Taliban – an ethno-nationalist and religious fundamentalist group – regained control of Afghanistan after 20 years. The Taliban (the de facto authorities, or DFA) have subsequently suppressed the people of Afghanistan, particularly women and girls. Since 2021, they have issued over 80 decrees, edicts, restrictive policies and regulations to erase Afghan women from public life and employment, confine them at home, strip them of their fundamental rights, and deteriorate their social relationships.

What is happening in Afghanistan is not simply discrimination; it is an institutionalised system of segregation and subjugation of women. It is gender apartheid.

Despite local challenges and insufficient international support, our organisation is working to end this apartheid using multiple, complementary approaches adapted to the changing context. We have been steadfast in integrating women’s safety and dignity into our work, which focuses on conflict reconciliation, financial empowerment, advocacy and local capacity strengthening.

To ensure our initiatives are effective, we have established strong and trust-based relationships with the target communities. We respect cultural norms, engage in timely consultation with the affected population, and collaborate with community leaders, religious scholars, and DFA representatives who are flexible and supportive of our activities. Furthermore, our initiatives are tailored to address immediate community needs, provide a platform for consistent community presence, and incorporate community voices, which helps in securing community buy-in and creates a foundation for long-term change.

Protection for women

The Taliban’s interpretation of Islam suggests men are superior, but we develop progressive Islam guidelines and educational materials that demonstrate how the principles of women’s equality are rooted in Islamic teachings. These resources promoting equality, dignity, legal rights, and women's participation are integrated across our work. We have been able to use these resources to guide day-to-day activities such as community dialogue, outreach sessions, educational workshops, and training sessions. Additionally, during our advocacy and consultation sessions, we sit with community leaders and religious scholars to explain how our work is very much in line with Islamic principles and local wisdoms and values.

We have established conflict resolution committees in targeted provinces, modelled after the traditional Jirga structure – an assembly of elders traditionally used to resolve disputes – while incorporating progressive Islamic perspectives and women’s participation. These committees facilitate discussions on women’s rights, girls’ education, and early and forced marriage, as well as providing referrals to support centres. They also take proactive measures to prevent and respond to violence, such as educating people about peace and non-violence through community centres and cultural events, engaging with local leaders for mediation, vigilant monitoring, and rapid information sharing.

Women’s empowerment

Women’s empowerment, through financial aid and self-sufficiency, remains our strategic cornerstone in combatting gender apartheid.

Poverty and hunger are dire in Afghanistan, with 22.9 million people in severe need of humanitarian assistance. Women and women-headed households are most profoundly affected, due to the restrictions by the de facto authorities. We prevent hunger and support women’s dignity by providing multipurpose cash and food assistance to vulnerable women and girls – including female-headed households, displaced and disabled women and girls, as well as women at risk of violence, exploitation, and social exclusion.

One woman who received this assistance shared: “I lost my son, the only breadwinner of my family. I was in a dire situation, yet my personal beliefs prevented me from begging. The assistance I received saved my life and preserved my dignity.”

We’re also creating safe ecosystems to foster financial independence and self-sufficiency.

We have provided small, flexible grants to approximately 50 local civil society groups (CSOs), with the majority being women-led and women-focused organisations. These CSOs employ over 65% female personnel and provide life-saving services to women, such as food and nutrition programmes, psychosocial support, and livelihood training and toolkits.

This funding helps organisations navigate the edicts against women’s employment, by financially supporting them to run community projects and maintain their female staff. To enable women employees to actively participate while adhering to imposed edicts, these CSOs conduct community interventions that avoid long-distance travel or interactions with unrelated individuals, provide flexible work options such as working from home, and focus on livelihood programmes, capacity building training, and food intervention.

We have also established and supported 11 women’s self-help groups (SHGs) for financial independence. SHG members learn new skills, such as tailoring, embroidery, Barak weaving and animal husbandry. They gain confidence and access financial resources, including microloans, savings, and small grants. The initiative specifically targets marginalised women in rural areas, who face particular restrictions due to harmful cultural norms.

An SHG member from Bamyan told us: “I would love to work, but our patriarchal society does not allow me to work outside the home.” The SHG enables women to work from home, access microloans, and develop financial management skills. Another member added: “Since joining the group, I have learned how to manage monthly income, divide expenses, and pay for my children’s education.”

These are initiatives that exemplify our commitment to directly supporting women and opposing their subjugation.

examples of Bamyan weaving by self-help groups.

Examples of Bamyan weaving by self-help groups.

Our work has provided us with invaluable lessons:

Timely and consistent community support and consultation build strong, valued, and meaningful relationships and trust. This foundation promotes open communication, cultivates mutual understanding, and ensures that interventions are aligned with community needs and expectations.

Collaborative and networked efforts are more effective in addressing restrictions, providing life-saving support and positively impacting lives, compared to isolated or uncoordinated initiatives. This underscores the critical importance of fostering local alliances.

Small grants, SHGs, vocational training, community dialogues, and awareness programmes foster local ownership, expanding opportunities for and fostering greater acceptance of women in leadership roles.

Localised approaches identify and address community needs effectively, take into account sensitivity, and ensure inclusivity.

Proactive planning, adaptability, and risk mitigation are crucial in troubled contexts. Our organisation has embraced this approach, enabling us to anticipate challenges, adjust effectively in dynamic situations, and minimise potential risks.

Respecting cultural norms and values ensures better programme acceptance and effectiveness among local communities.

Advocacy

In conjunction with our empowerment and safety initiatives, we are advocating at multiple levels to combat systematic discrimination. We aim to foster community engagement, form coalitions and alliances, and empower grassroots actors who play a critical role and work directly with women and girls.

Our grassroots advocacy includes engaging men and boys to challenge harmful practices and gender-based violence, while promoting gender equality within communities. This approach has sparked meaningful conversations and behavioural changes, with many men and boys initiating advocacy to challenge traditional harmful practices and actively supporting equality-focused programmes within their communities.

At the national and international levels, we advocate for policies and funding strategies that prioritise women’s protection and empowerment. At the local level, we have formed alliances with women’s networks, youth associations, and CSOs, ensuring that stories of resilience and systematic injustice are heard and reflected in our international advocacy. By fostering open communication and trust among these alliances, we have bridged the gap between grassroots activists and international efforts, generating impetus toward dismantling gender apartheid.

Together, we urge national and international stakeholders to join efforts to recognise gender apartheid as a crime, prevent it from spreading, and push for meaningful changes.

Afghan women protest the Taliban, outside New York Library on January 14, 2023. Under Taliban rule, girls have been barred from accessing education.

Challenges and recommendations

We encounter both local and international challenges. Among the numerous day-to-day challenges are security risks to personnel and operations, navigating edicts regarding women’s participation, and limited access to women due to bans on their presence in public life. We can also struggle to obtain permission from and coordinate with DFA, as well as facing funding constraints, community resistance, and cultural and religious barriers.

Yet, hope emerges from strong community trust, and flexible and multisectoral donor funding. We are able to overcome many challenges through our NGO’s collaborative efforts, the team’s proactive planning, adaptability, and risk mitigation skills, and by respecting cultural norms and values. These efforts ensure women’s empowerment while navigating dynamic conditions, not only sustaining our work but also laying the foundation for future advocacy.

Working from home enables many organisations in Afghanistan to navigate the restrictions affecting women working. But in the long-run, we are concerned that it may lead to isolation, domestic violence, and increased mental health issues. More importantly, it may normalise the erosion of women from public life and promote overworking.

Insufficient funding for local organisations in Afghanistan is weakening our collective efforts to tackle gender apartheid. Despite international statements emphasising the importance of standing in solidarity with Afghan women and girls, women-led and women-focused CSOs are particularly left behind in funding. Small grants help but are insufficient, and there is a severe need for long-term funding strategies to support critical local work.

The international community is not keeping pace with the de facto authorities in Afghanistan. Its advocacy efforts at international and national levels seem fragmented and ineffective, with minimal noticeable outcomes and no reversal of harmful edicts. It is essential to strengthen coordination and alignment of these efforts to push for meaningful change.

International support should focus more on local ownership, capacity strengthening, and empowerment of local peacebuilders and human rights actors. We need to see increased funding and international advocacy for local structures like CSOs and SHGs that are delivering coordinated and holistic humanitarian assistance and vocational skills training. Funds must be allocated for women’s groups and associations.

Conclusion 

The catastrophic humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is exacerbated by ever-increasing restrictions by the de facto authorities. The profound ramification of these restrictions on women and girls must be countered through holistic and interconnected local initiatives that empower women and girls to make social, economic, political, and legal choices, and which promote their wellbeing, autonomy, and personal fulfilment. This empowerment will enable their active participation in decision-making at both household and community levels.

But to tackle gender apartheid in Afghanistan, we need much more international support and investment, and greater collaboration. There is an urgent need for coalition, coordination, and collective action to save lives and preserve the dignity of Afghan women and girls.