{"id":37457,"date":"2026-03-10T17:59:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T14:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/?p=37457"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:35:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T15:05:36","slug":"silence-is-more-painful-than-prison-why-afghan-women-still-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/silence-is-more-painful-than-prison-why-afghan-women-still-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Silence is more painful than prison\u2019: Why Afghan women still protest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ghazal Mohammadi<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of the protest, Sabera* wrapped her placards in a piece of cloth, then placed them in a plastic bag. She made sure to put on her hijab and facemask before heading out to meet her friends, who were all taking a different route to the protest site so as not to attract attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although she has marked International Women\u2019s Day in this way for the last three years, Sabera was nervous. In Kabul, where she lives, women have been arrested just for being on the streets. Protesting in public is enough to get you jailed, beaten, or worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sabera is driven on by the memory of her father, who was killed by Taliban insurgents before the group returned to power in 2021. After his death, she said, she vowed not to remain silent in the face of the men who had taken him from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After meeting the others \u2013 around 25 in total — she distributed the signs she had brought and the group started walking through the streets of the Afghan capital chanting “no to the Taliban” and “standing for the rights of women in Afghanistan.\u201d The protest, held early in the morning a week ahead of International Women\u2019s Day, lasted about 20 minutes \u2013 an extraordinary achievement in a city where women are now rarely seen in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My heart was beating fast,\u201d she said later. \u201cIn my mind, I kept repeating only one sentence: \u2018God, carry our voices to the world so that people may hear how we are living.\u2019 We all knew we might be arrested, but silence is more painful than prison.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Street protests by women are extremely rare since the Taliban took power and immediately set about suppressing dissent, often violently. There are multiple credible reports of torture being used against women detainees, including from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, reported<\/a> that some women and girls held in Taliban prisons had been subjected to sexual assault and rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another of the protesters, Zinat*, said the women were fully aware of the risks they were taking. Silence just wasn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m always worried about me or my friends being detained. Constant fear is not easy,\u201d she said. \u201cThe threat of arrest is always there, and it creates enormous psychological pressure. The conditions are difficult and uncertain.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zinat said four and a half years of resistance against the Taliban\u2019s systematic repression \u2014 including arrests, threats, beatings and torture \u2014 have proven that women will never surrender to erasure or imposed silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps this struggle has not yet reached its end goal, but at least it has shown the world that women in Afghanistan will not surrender to elimination and coercion,\u201d she said. \u201cSilence is complicity with oppression. We are not women who will remain silent in the face of the Taliban\u2019s injustice and restrictions, accepting the suffering they impose on us while we do not deserve such cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

–Challenging the narrative —<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rights defenders say that women protesters in Afghanistan have shown great ingenuity in circumventing the restrictions imposed on them, often remaining one step ahead of the Taliban. Although they may not be persuading their oppressors, the protesters are doing much to keep their plight in the international spotlight, said Shaharzad Akbar, the former head of Afghanistan\u2019s Independent Human Rights Commission, because it shows that there is not widespread support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWomen’s protests inside Afghanistan are a point of hope for external observers because they show that the public demand for change and rights still exists,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is a narrative that the majority of the people agree with the Taliban and that Afghanistan is an extremely religious and traditional society where most people do not oppose Taliban rule or its anti-women policies. But women, by accepting great risks, challenge these narratives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the case for Mojda*, who protested alongside Zinat and Sabera. She took the risk of going out to protest without telling her family, who are trying to force her into a marriage she doesn\u2019t want. So what made her go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSilence leads only to greater pressure and humiliation,\u201d she said. \u201cThe more restrictions there are, the stronger our determination becomes. We do not want to be a generation that remains silent in the face of injustice and accepts imposed suffering without protest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the risks, International Women\u2019s Day marches are now a rarity in Kabul, but Rukhshana Media was made aware of others, including a small group of women who took to the streets on March 8 under the slogan: \u201cOur front is the street; our enemy is the Taliban.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three women who took part in the March 1 protest said they remained anxious about possible repercussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Carrying out a protest usually comes with anxiety and psychological pressure,\u201d said Mojda. \u201cOn the one hand, there is fear of arrest; on the other, a strong motivation to defend our rights. When the protest ends, we feel satisfaction that we fulfilled our responsibility, but the anxiety remains.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To add to their anxiety, the women say some men made their opposition known during the protest, dismissing their activism and telling them to go home before they were arrested. \u201cI feel sorry for the majority of the men of my country who oppose our struggle,\u201d said Zinat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Away from the streets of Kabul though, Sabera is confident that their actions are helping to keep the situation of women in Afghanistan in the public eye internationally. And she calls on the world to provide practical help, not just words of support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Today, no one can claim ignorance about the condition of women in Afghanistan. Everyone knows what situation women live in under the shadow of the Taliban’s terrorist regime,\u201d she said. \u201cBut your silence means legitimising repression. Support the people\u2014especially the women\u2014of Afghanistan in practice, not only through statements but through real action.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n