“I’m not calling for women to expose their heads, I want freedom for our souls, minds and spirit” – (Ala , Via BBC News)
In 2010, reports revealed that 90% of Afghan women experienced human rights violations (BBC News, 2010). Today, their situation has worsened — even their voices are forbidden from being heard.
According to the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, women are not allowed to have their voices heard by other women or outside their homes (BBC News, 2025).
In August 2024, the Taliban implemented a series of strict laws that further restricted women’s rights. These laws impede their religious freedom, as women are now forbidden from singing, reciting the Quran, or praying aloud in the presence of others (BBC News, 2025).
This stems from the Taliban’s belief that a woman’s voice is “intimate” and should therefore remain silenced.
The bans extend beyond speech. Women are prohibited from attending school beyond sixth grade, working, and even visiting beauty salons (UN Women, 2025).
They are also forbidden from looking at men they are not related to. Reports even indicate that women are being encouraged to wear burqas with only one eye exposed, based on the claim that a single eye is sufficient for vision.
Production of these one-eye burqas is reportedly underway (BBC News, 2025).
The humanitarian consequences are severe. UN Women projects that by 2026, early childbearing rates could rise by 45%, while maternal mortality may increase by more than 50% if these oppressive restrictions persist (UN Women, 2025)
Opinion
I fear that what we are witnessing is only the tip of the iceberg. And if we fail to look, we too would have been part of the problem. Over the past few years, there seems to be a collective, global undoing of years of work for women’s rights. Massive conservative movements – in the east and the west and in between- have caused a regression of women’s freedom. Their freedom to choose, their freedom to education, their freedom to thrive, their freedom to empower themselves, their freedom to protect themselves
Their freedom to be.
What can we do?
Start by calling it out, everywhere. Including in your personal life.
Women’s right might look different in different continents and countries, but the fundamental principal remains: “(…) entitling women and girls to live free from violence and discrimination, to have equal opportunities in all aspects of life, and to exercise their full rights as autonomous individuals” (UN women)
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