The Status of Women’s Education in Afghanistan

At the end of March, the Taliban reversed its decision to open up education to girls above the sixth grade. Students reacted to the news with devastation.

Eighteen-year-old Tamana told CNN that she had been excited to go to school, but after arriving at her school’s gate, she and her classmates were told to return home. “All of my classmates went back home in tears,” she said.

The status of women’s rights in Afghanistan has been precarious since the Taliban, an extremist group that has historically opposed women’s rights, took back power last year. Initially, there seemed to be a ray of hope: A Taliban spokesman stated women would be allowed to study. Western nations packed on the political pressure to educate girls by making women’s education a precondition for Afghanistan receiving international aid.

The Taliban’s backtracking on female education prompted concerned responses from more than 10 countries, including the U.S. and U.K. The World Bank pulled four projects from Afghanistan designed to improve education, health, and agriculture, which totaled $600 million.

Ian McCary, the chief of mission for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, said the decision was “very disappointing & contradicts many Taliban assurances & statements.” He added, “All Afghan youth deserve to be educated."

Restricting women’s access to education divides more extreme Taliban followers from more moderate ones. Moderate leaders have allowed teen girls in areas of Northern Afghanistan to resume classes. However, it’s clear that extremist voices still hold a great deal of sway. Afghan women can no longer travel alone, an added barrier for those seeking outside education. Some dual-nationals have even been prevented from returning to their home countries without a male guardian.

Though the Taliban claims that women will have access to schools once they decide on religiously appropriate uniforms. NPR speculated that the Taliban’s emphasis on educating girls “in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture and traditions, as well as the ruling of the Islamic Emirate” is simply code for using religious ideology to undermine women’s rights. Since taking power the Taliban have made statements ostensibly supporting women’s rights, with one Taliban spokesman claiming, “Our sisters and our men have the same rights.”

Their previous actions, however, provide ample reason to doubt these statements. When the Taliban was last in power from 1996 to 2001, they also prevented girls from going to school, by initially instituting a temporary ban until “conditions were right.” Eventually the ban became permanent. After the March ban on women’s education, some girls pointed out that they were already modestly dressed in headscarves and long-sleeve shirts.

Despite condemnation from governments and the World Bank’s withdrawal, some claim that the plight of Afghan women is still not fully recognized by the international community. In a CNN op-ed, Wazma Frogh, leader of the Women and Peace Studies Organization in Kabul, pleaded with the global community to stand up for Afghan women.

“To global women leaders, feminists' movements, women and human rights activists internationally, I ask: are the rights of Afghan women not relevant anymore?” she wrote. “The US government has certainly turned a blind eye to them. And if the international rhetoric, laws and UN Resolutions do not protect the rights of Afghan women and girls, can women in other parts of the world really trust these systems?”

In the meantime, women in Afghanistan have been standing up for themselves with protests. In March, a group of women and girls protested outside the ministry of education, carrying signs and banners, and chanting in front of armed Taliban members, “Education is our right — open the doors of girls’ schools!” The Guardian reported that one protester, Nawesa, called out the Taliban for using religion as a scapegoat for oppression. “Even the Prophet said everyone has the right to education, but the Taliban have snatched this right from us,” she said.

Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and advocate for girls’ education, noted that barring girls from education stems from a fear of their potential power. “I had one hope for today: that Afghan girls walking to school would not be sent back home. But the Taliban did not keep their promise,” she said. “They will keep finding excuses to stop girls from learning — because they are afraid of educated girls and empowered women."