Being a woman has become tantamount to being a criminal in Afghanistan. The dreams of a generation are being destroyed. Anger and fear squeezes everyone’s throat. Violence against women is not the exception, but the rule. If what is happening in Afghanistan had happened in any other corner of the world, there would have been a huge uproar and outrage. For Afghanistan, however, people seem to ignore the extreme abuse being carried out, instead remarking on the country’s “peace” and “security” – if they say anything at all.
Why?
The answer is more moral than analytical. A society can exist “peacefully” with repression, violence, and arbitrary brutality only when justice, freedom, and human dignity are not the goal. Enforcing inequality and oppression is characteristic of ideologies whose followers do not believe in human dignity and freedom.
By suppressing and discriminating against women, the Taliban show that justice, freedom, and human dignity are not important to their rule. The silence of so many in the face of it foments the trauma of this situation. It seems that society – which cannot be separated from women – is trying to numb itself to the suffering of its own body. People don’t want to see the deep existential pain of millions of Afghan girls and women. They can’t fully fathom the horror, so they try to justify it, or they simply turn away.
Is this the reality of Afghan society?
If we take the traditional narrative of a society built by patriarchal structures, the full extreme of that narrative is what we see in Afghanistan today. But the patriarchy undermines itself too – a society in which no pulse beats for women is a society where justice, freedom and human dignity does not exist.
The image the Taliban have of society is built entirely on a false premise. They take one part of a truth – that men have value – and reduce all of society to it, where ONLY men have value. In an ideal Taliban society, the social fabric is made entirely by men and for men, and women are only there to serve it. By ignoring the value of women in their own right, the Taliban is setting up a society that on one level achieves the narrow interests of a truly patriarchal system, but it fails in too many other areas to ever be healthy.
Men do not make Society
Afghan society is a society dominated by men, but men do not make up the whole of society. It is willful ignorance to dismiss nature’s own powerful calculation that at least half of society be female, and ignore the body of evidence that women have been a powerful force for good across all manner of political, scientific, and cultural endeavours.
The Taliban’s war on women is a war born of frustration. It’s the dying gasp of men who are disillusioned and desperate to return to a time where simply being a man made you right. The death knell of patriarchal structures that favoured men for no other reason than surface biology is tolling around the world. The Taliban is one of the last arrows in the quiver of these decaying beliefs.
Women as the main force of change
Women are not a mere appendage to society. They are at its core and they are powerful drivers of change. This force is concerned with justice and freedom and is a protector of human dignity. Women are a source of inspiration for the whole society.
The Taliban will ultimately fail in their attempt to erase women from society. Deep in the hearts of Afghans, they know the Taliban society is a lie. Women’s will to thrive is more powerful than their decrees and the desire for liberation is only gaining strength. It is natural that in a society like Afghanistan, which is riddled with violence and oppression, women’s struggle is not an easy task. But with time and in inverse proportion to the oppression, women become more mature, coherent, efficient, and strong. It is how women have emerged from so many patriarchal structures throughout history.
The voice of Afghan women has been crushed. But as buried rock subjected to extreme pressure later emerges as a diamond, the voice of women will emerge again in forms and strength beyond the Taliban imagination.
Solidarity with the liberating force
March 8 is hailed as the one day of the year where we as a global society recognise this struggle of women – we celebrate those who have overcome the structures that made them weak, and we encourage those who are still striving to keep going.
The tragic situation of Afghanistan’s rulers actively seeking to destroy women’s hard-won efforts so far is a heavy blow to girls and women across the country. Women demonstrating against this situation is not simply a protest for their rights, but it’s an attempt to prevent the collapse of human values in society. A society without women is a society without humanity.
Solidarity with women means accompanying this pulse of women’s protest to liberate all society to be a place of human dignity. Where all humans are valued.
Rukhshana Media seeks to be a platform for the growth, expansion and spread of this liberation of women, and ultimately, of all society. The road ahead will not be easy, but the destination is worthy. The bright prospect of freedom from tyranny and false beliefs lights the way. This is the future we strive for. Rukhshana Media is honored to be on the frontlines of these efforts by raising the voices of those who are being told they have none.
