What the Taliban is doing to Afghan women is not “restrictions.” It’s gender apartheid- a total war on half the population.
• No school beyond grade 6 for girls.
• No university, no jobs, not even nursing or working for the UN.
• No public spaces :parks, gyms, beauty salons, even restaurants are forbidden.
• No freedom of movement without a male guardian.
• No voice in public, sometimes not even at home if men can hear.
• No bodily autonomy, contraceptives banned, justice system weaponized, women flogged and stoned.
This isn’t “culture.” It’s the deliberate destruction of female existence in public and private life.
And yet… the world shrugs.
Why? Because women’s rights are always treated as negotiable. It’s not complex. It’s patriarchy with guns.
We don’t need “awareness.” We need rage that doesn’t fade and solidarity that doesn’t stop when the headlines do. Afghan women are resisting every single day, often at the risk of prison, torture, or death. The least we can do is refuse to normalize their oppression.
Silence is complicity.
Patriarchy everywhere is patriarchy we must destroy.
