Afghanistan’s Women Are Being Erased, And the World Cannot Look Away
- Tamara K. Snow
- Aug 10
- 4 min read
There are millions of women and girls in Afghanistan who are being denied something many of us take for granted every day: the ability to go to school, work, move freely through society and make decisions about their own futures.
This is not history. This is happening right now. In real time
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, restrictions on women and girls have continued to grow. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from secondary and higher education. UNESCO reported in 2025 that nearly 2.2 million girls had been prevented from attending school beyond the primary level because of the Taliban's restrictions.
Think about what that actually means.
Millions of girls are growing up watching their brothers continue their education while classroom doors close to them simply because they are female.
And education is only part of what has been taken away.
Women Are Being Pushed Out of Public Life
UN Women describes Afghanistan as experiencing the world's most severe women's rights crisis. Girls are prohibited from attending school beyond roughly age 12 or 13. Women have been excluded from most employment and political participation, while restrictions on their movement and access to healthcare have continued to grow.
The consequences will last for generations.
In April 2026, UNICEF warned that Afghanistan could lose as many as 20,000 female teachers and 5,400 female healthcare workers by 2030 if restrictions on women's education and employment continue. Women's representation in the civil service already fell from 21% in 2023 to 17.7% in 2025.
This creates a devastating cycle.
Ban girls from education today, and there are fewer female teachers tomorrow.
Ban women from medical education, and there are fewer female healthcare workers to care for women and children. Prevent women from working, and families and communities lose income, knowledge and independence.
UNICEF estimates that restrictions on women's education and employment are already costing Afghanistan approximately US$84 million every year in lost economic output.
This Is About Control
It is important that we stop treating this as though women simply "can't go to school."
They are being prevented from going.
These are political decisions being imposed upon them.
Women previously attended universities, worked, operated businesses and participated in public life. Those freedoms did not simply disappear. They were deliberately restricted.
And the restrictions continue. In June 2026, Amnesty International reported on a new Taliban code that can uphold marriages arranged during childhood and severely restrict women's and girls' ability to challenge or leave forced unions.
Education matters enormously here because education creates independence. It gives women greater opportunities to earn money, understand their rights, participate politically and make decisions about their own lives.
When you take education away from girls, you don't just take away a classroom.
You take away choices.
Afghan Women Have Not Stopped Fighting
One thing I do not want this article to do is portray Afghan women only as victims waiting for the rest of the world to rescue them.
They are resisting.
Women are advocating for their rights. Educators are finding ways to keep girls learning. Underground, community-based and digital education programs continue despite enormous obstacles.
Malala Fund currently supports alternative education through home and community schools, digital platforms, television and radio. Its partners have developed programs capable of reaching more than two million girls across Afghanistan.
Amnesty International recently highlighted Fatema Uzgun Nusrat's Behdukht Academy, an online school educating Afghan girls under strict security measures because even pursuing an education can carry risks.
Afghan women are already doing the work.
The question is whether the rest of us are willing to stand beside them.
What Can We Actually Do?
Awareness matters, but awareness without action eventually becomes observation.
There are concrete ways we can help.
Support Afghan-led and girls' education initiatives. Malala Fund supports Afghan women activists, alternative education and campaigns seeking international recognition of gender apartheid. Donations help expand digital and alternative education opportunities for girls who have been excluded from classrooms.
Support international pressure and accountability. Amnesty International continues campaigning for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan, including education, healthcare, employment, freedom of expression and protection from human-rights abuses.
Stand behind Afghan women's calls for gender apartheid to be recognized internationally. Malala Fund and Afghan women activists are campaigning for gender apartheid to be recognized as a crime under international law, creating stronger pathways for accountability.
And we can use our own voices.
Write to elected representatives. Ask what your government is doing to support Afghan women's education, humanitarian assistance, refugee pathways and international accountability. Share the work of Afghan women activists rather than allowing their voices to disappear from our feeds as the news cycle moves on.
Their Rights Are Not Negotiable
A girl should not need permission from a government to learn because she was born female.
A woman should not need a male guardian to participate in society.
A woman should not be forced to choose between obedience and education.
And an entire generation of women should not disappear from public life while the rest of the world becomes accustomed to it.
There is something particularly dangerous about becoming used to injustice.
The situation in Afghanistan has continued for years. That does not make it normal. It does not make it cultural inevitability. And it certainly does not make it acceptable.
Afghan women do not need the world to speak for them.
They are already speaking.
We need to make sure the world does not stop listening.
Take Action
Learn. Share their stories. Support organizations keeping girls connected to education. Contact your representatives. Support Afghan women-led advocacy. Demand that women's rights remain part of international discussions about Afghanistan.
Most importantly, refuse to accept a world in which millions of girls being denied an education becomes yesterday's news.
Education is not a privilege reserved for boys. It is a human right.
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