Since the Taliban regained control in August 2021, women in Afghanistan have had every right to human dignity systematically stripped away — the right to education, to safety, to freedom of movement, to bodily autonomy.
Under Taliban rule:
- Girls are banned from secondary schools and universities.
- Women cannot walk outside, exercise, enter parks or gyms, or even show their faces.
- Women are forbidden from singing or even reading aloud at home if they can be heard.
- Beauty salons are closed, jobs for women eliminated, and women are banned from most public spaces.
- Violence — including domestic abuse, gang rape, torture, and public floggings or stoning — has escalated and often goes unpunished.
- Suicide among women has tragically increased as despair takes hold.
SAWA has been helping women in Afghanistan for more than 20 years. Today the funding we provide to support education and training projects for Afghan women and girls is more important than ever.
