As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we must remember the fight for equality is still not finished here in the U.S. and around the world. We don’t need to be reminded that in the USA the fight for the federal and state Equal Rights Amendments and the fight for reproductive freedom persist.
At the Feminist Majority Foundation, we know what it means to fight for women’s rights. We fight for equality at home and around the world. And for nearly four years under a second Taliban regime, the women of Afghanistan are fighting for their very existence.
The Taliban has issued over 100 edicts, erasing Afghan women from public life and virtually imprisoning them in their homes. Women and girls are banned from going to school after 6th grade, from universities, and nearly all professions. Women engineers, civil servants, and lawyers — all erased. Afghan women are not even allowed to leave their homes without a male guardian, let alone pursue education or employment.
The only exception? The Taliban allows them to beg in the streets, to sell sticks of chewing gum, pens, and plastic bags just to survive.
But Afghan women have not surrendered. At great risk, for example, young Afghan women are secretly going online to continue their education. Behind locked doors, they study different majors, including journalism, and computer science. They are learning English and computer skills, areas of study the Taliban has banned. They are determined to learn and we are inspired by their bravery.
Here at the Feminist Majority Foundation, we are stretched thin. We are on the front lines protecting U.S. abortion clinics from the rising wave of extremist terrorism—an effort that demands more resources every day. We are working for the federal and state Equal Rights Amendments. We have been operating a scholarship fund for Afghan women here in the U.S. since 2002. We have been training and working with students on a whole host of projects, including voting and reducing campus sexual assault.
Yet, despite the challenges, we continue to do our part. We refuse to turn our backs on Afghan women and are working to end Gender Apartheid. And we want to help fulfill the dreams of young Afghan women by providing some of them with the opportunity to continue their education online.
We are determined to support Afghan women in Afghanistan who remain determined to pursue their education despite immense challenges.
In honor of International Women’s Day, will you join us in empowering young Afghan women to learn and build a better future?
