A women’s advocacy group has launched a global campaign calling for concrete action to end what it describes as “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan, saying international statements and condemnations have failed to protect women.
The Coordination Association of Afghan Active Women said its eight-week campaign, titled “End Gender Apartheid Now”, began this week and will highlight activities and voices from different countries each week to show that resistance by Afghan women has become global.
“Enough is enough. Words did not protect Afghan women. Now is the time for action,” the group said in a statement.
More than four years after the Taliban returned to power, the situation for women and girls has not improved and has instead deteriorated in a systematic way, the group said. Women have been pushed out of public life, girls barred from education, and an entire generation is at risk of losing its future.
“While repression intensifies, the world is moving towards silence and normalisation,” the statement said.
The group said steps such as the acceptance of Taliban representatives in Europe, moves by Russia towards recognition and continued financial engagement by the United States showed that international condemnation and dialogue over the past four years had failed to bring change.
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have progressively stripped women of basic rights, banning girls from secondary schools and universities, restricting employment and limiting freedom of movement. Despite sustained international criticism, the group has tightened those policies.
The campaign follows renewed calls from international lawmakers. Alice Macdonald, a member of Britain’s parliament, said in a recent speech that turning away from what she described as a crisis of women’s rights and gender apartheid in Afghanistan would amount to a betrayal of women both in Afghanistan and globally.
“We cannot abandon them,” she said. “If we turn our backs on this crisis, we are not only betraying Afghan women, but women everywhere.”
Macdonald described the situation facing Afghan women and girls as “devastating” but said the international community should not give up, noting that Afghan women themselves had not surrendered.
“They are determined and inspiring,” she said, adding that despite severe restrictions, Afghan women continue to find ways to run businesses and remain active on the front lines of their struggle.
