Since taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have drastically curtailed women's rights.
It is mainly education and women's right to work that have been the target of this extremist policy.
But why are women the first victims of this regime?
Answers with Victoria Fontan, rector of the American University of Afghanistan, interviewed by
20 Minutes
.
“The story of men's resistance to women's emancipation is even more instructive than the story of women's emancipation,” wrote Virginia Woolf.
In Afghanistan, the decline in women's rights since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 is spectacular.
In sixteen months young girls were prevented from going to school, the Taliban supreme leader ordered women to cover themselves fully in public, including the face, and to stay mainly at home, and more recently , Afghanistan banned women from working for NGOs.
According to the G7, the abolition of women's rights can constitute “a crime against humanity”.
But why does the Taliban mainly attack women and their education?
According to Victoria Fontan, rector of the American University of Afghanistan, this is more a political strategy than a religious issue.
Why are women's rights the primary targets of the Taliban regime?
What is happening in Afghanistan is political.
The Taliban rake on the right of the political scale, which, in this country, is the Islamic State (EI) because there are a lot of movements of fighters between the EI and the Taliban.
After their accession to the head of the country, the latter failed to establish power over public services.
The population is dissatisfied and like any political party in failure and difficulty, they rake on one side, in this case the right.
In a society where the Taliban are unable to deliver basic services, these laws against women's rights establish their power at the political, social and religious level.
Especially since it costs nothing and it allows them to show that they are in charge.
In France, when a political party in power is in difficulty, it is often the minorities who pay the price, and in Afghanistan, the minority is the women.
It is not so much the rigorist aspect of religion that comes into play, knowing that in the families of the Taliban in power, women are mainly educated.
Why is education particularly targeted?
There is not much else to attack in terms of women's rights.
The noose gradually closed with the measures taken concerning secondary education, then the subjects taught, or even the segregation between women and men on campuses, dress codes, the prohibition for women to going to parks, gyms, public baths, etc.
All that remains is higher education with restrictions on NGOs where women are no longer allowed to work.
Yet it was their lifeline, many worked there.
Are women a threat to the Taliban?
No, it's not a threat.
Before 2021, Afghanistan was already very patriarchal.
Women who worked in the administration were very often victims of sexual harassment and could not move up the ladder.
Even before the Taliban, it was a very expensive place to pay.
Are women an easy target?
It is of course an easy target, weak against the backdrop of a well-established patriarchy.
And for this extremist political group, the Taliban, the position of women in society is the worst.
Yet Afghan society has not always been so harsh on women.
It is based on Sufism, a current of Islam very different from the Saudi vision of religion, for example.
Is there a challenge against these violations of women's rights in Afghanistan?
Young people and especially students watch a lot of social networks and in particular what is happening in Iran at the moment.
They see that it is possible to stand up as youth against a totalitarian state.
And above all, they realize that if they miss the boat, they could be in the same situation in 40 years.
This is an opportunity to seize.
Our file on Afghanistan
However, there is no massive protest but a few behaviors like this professor from Kabul who tore up his diploma on television.
Some students also refuse to take their exams at the end of the year.
There are also some schools in several local communities that have continued to open their doors to young girls.
We can therefore speak of a certain resistance but it is not coordinated or massive.
What can the international community do to reach out to Afghan women?
We must continue to talk about the things that annoy, especially when we meet the Taliban.
We must continue to exert pressure and support the people in Afghanistan.
The international community must continue to exploit the flaws in the Taliban system, using our economic, social and political privilege.
And above all, you must not give up, continue no matter what.
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