Fighting against gender apartheid is not a simple task. The complexities of regimes which deploy multilayered rules and tools to enforce long-standing systemic discrimination require a struggle that’s equally complex, multilayered, and persevering.
In the past year, Afghan and Iranian women have become more united in the face of the systems of gender discrimination they live within. Especially from the outside, there’s a sense that they’re fighting the same battle.
Ostensibly, such a union appears very favorable for women activists on both sides of the border. However, these efforts involve some subtle differences that should be considered.
Differences in the status of women in Afghanistan and Iran
While women in both Afghanistan and Iran experience the heavy oppression of a political tyranny driven by apparently Islamic-derived beliefs, their situations are not identical. There are freedoms afforded to women in Iran that are not permitted to women in Afghanistan.
Women in Iran have the right to political participation. It’s not equal to men in all aspects — for example, women cannot become president — but women can engage in political activities at various levels, including voting and being elected.
In Iran, women are also part of major political leadership structures, including the executive branch. There is a female vice president, and women are members of the cabinet. Women are also allowed to participate in political parties, associations, and civil society organizations.
Women in Afghanistan are not free to participate across the spectrum of political representation – from the highest ranks of the Taliban authorities currently holding power to political movements in civil society.
Then there’s education. Iran has one of the highest female literacy rates in the region. This year, women made up 63% of students participating in Iran’s national university entrance exam. Women also teach at all educational levels, from primary school to university. In 2022, 73.1% of Iranian women had a tertiary education, only slightly lower than men at 77.3%. In comparison, in Afghanistan, this figure is 2.9%.
Economically, Iran does not limit women’s activities. They are employed in offices, universities, institutions, and hospitals as well as being able to own businesses and economic ventures, freely engaging in commerce and trade. Women in Afghanistan are only able to work in very specific endeavours with strict controls on how they show up and who they’re permitted to work with.
Women in Iran hold a significant presence in the media. Whether state-run or private, women are represented In cinema, theatre, and television series. Women have nearly equal representation to men at all levels. They serve as news producers, presenters, directors, screenwriters, and actors. In Afghanistan, women have been largely banned from almost all representation and positions of power in the media.
In Iran’s social and cultural realms, women can freely travel, engage in recreational activities, and even live independently apart from their parents. They can participate in music gatherings, ride bicycles, drive, and stroll freely in the streets and parks. Afghan women are banned from travelling without a male chaperone and have even been struck from visiting national parks.
In sports, Iranian women have a vibrant presence in many disciplines. There are dedicated women’s clubs, with female athletes participating in international competitions. In Afghanistan, women are not able to enjoy sport even as a recreational pastime among friends, let alone be given support to play competitively.
A significant number of Iranian women are working in healthcare. The number of female doctors is a high as the male cohort, and the indicator of women’s access to health and medical services is considered nearly equal to that of men. In Afghanistan, women and girls are increasingly at risk as fewer women are working in the sector or they’re subjected to strict rules of segregation that are impacting health outcomes.
These are all indicators highlighting a difference in the situation of women in Iran and Afghanistan.
The case for gender apartheid is more stark in Afghanistan
Nevertheless, Iran is controlled by a political rule that exerts an extreme interpretation of women’s behaviour in society and does not fully endorse gender equality, so women still battle systemic discrimination which is uncommon in many other countries. The political climate and its brutal measures enforcing suppression of women has inspired a women’s movement in Iran that’s globally recognized. Iranian men are also backing the movement in a way that is unseen among Asian countries.
Afghan women’s fight for equality has some comparisons but is not the same. The Taliban is completely removing women from most of the public sphere. The Taliban’s fear and threat tactics are even reaching women in private homes with more crackdowns on simple freedoms.
The Taliban also has the tacit support of a socio-cultural structure that has silently accepted these encroachments. Afghan men, in general, are not speaking out on the importance of women’s equality or freedom. Families are also complicit in enforcing cultural structures that oppress women with other ideas of how they want to show up in society.
Violence against women is happening at a micro level, meaning in daily interactions, within families, and in private life, in ways that are perhaps less violent on the surface but can be as severe in outcomes and silencing women.
Women in Afghanistan are increasingly relegated to an existence that is one of servitude, deprived of basic human rights around autonomy. Since the Taliban’s rise to power, the view of women as inferior to men has become more widespread. Women and girls are considered useful members of a society only when they are the property of men, providing sexual services, bearing and raising children, and performing household chores.
Recognizing this difference in the status of women between Iran and Afghanistan is important for any alliance against gender apartheid. It is important not to equate the two countries, and thereby water down what is happening in Afghanistan as being the same discrimination that women in Iran face.
The participation of Iranian women in the fight against the gender apartheid in Afghanistan is important, but it should not be cast in a way that ties the fate of women in both countries together.
The alliance of Iranian women with Afghan women should focus on criminalizing “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan. Recognizing gender apartheid in Afghanistan is crucial for women’s struggles globally and will also support the struggles of women in Iran, while Afghan women can benefit from the experience, energy, and awareness of Iranian women against discrimination.
Not understanding this nuance and, thereby, tying the fate of Afghan women to the situation of Iranian women could complicate the fight for Afghan women and harm efforts being made to recognize what’s unfolding in Afghanistan as gender apartheid and a crime against humanity.
Source: Gender Inequality Index | Human Development Reports (undp.org)
