Unveiled: A History of Afghan Women's Rights

Women’s rights in Afghanistan have always been a matter of fierce struggle over regimes and generations. Since the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, however, the oppression that Afghan women and girls are experiencing is unmatched in terms of scale and generational impact.

Yet, there have been periods in Afghan history when women enjoyed greater rights than many women worldwide. In 1919, Afghan women gained the right to vote, a year before women in the United States and more than 50 years before women in Switzerland. And starting in the 1950s, they were allowed to attend university and join the workforce.

An Afghan nurse of a rural health unit, located in a village near Kabul in 1960. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) assisted the Government in carrying out its health programme.

Left: A woman prepares bacterial cultures in the Plant Protection Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture in Kabul in 1960. Right: Students of photogeology carrying out a topographical survey in 1960.

In 1996, the Taliban gained control of most of Afghanistan, instituting a period of systematic repression of women's rights. They remained in power until they were overthrown in December 2001. Here, two Afghan women in December 2001.

In 2004, the nation adopted a new constitution which enshrined the rights of women and leading to a flourishing of female participation Afghan public life. Left: Two girls study on the grounds of Kabul University, once the scene of factional fighting. Right: One of the young girls in the Kapisa province receiving training in trade to better their education in 2006. 

The new constitution also included provisions to advance the right to political representation of women. Women parliamentarians of the Afghan Lower House (Wolesi Jirga or “House of the People”) arrive at their inauguration ceremony in Kabul on 26 January 2011.

Along with the goal of increased representation of women in the political sphere, there was also greater inclusion of Afghan women in the public sector. By 2020, 21 per cent of Afghan civil servants were women, compared with almost none before 2001. Left: Afghan female police recruits carry out a training exercise at the police academy in Kabul in 2010. Right: Students at a midwifery school in Nili, Afghanistan, in 2009. Afghan women’s life expectancy grew from 56 years in 2001 to 66 in 2017. This gain was largely due to a significant decline in mortality during childbirth.  

From 2001 to 2021, several women held significant public offices, including Adela Raz, who was appointed Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations and then served as the Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States. In 2019 she arrived at the United Nations with her daughter to attend the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Although the situation of Afghan women improved dramatically after the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, with distinct human rights achievements, Afghan women in particular expressed fears that the overall human rights situation was worsening in the context of the country’s transition. Left: A woman walks down the street cradling her child beneath her chador. Right: Women covered by a single chador sort through pistachios by hand at a privately-owned factory. Both images from Herat in 2012. 

Since regaining control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban
have systematically imposed oppressive directives that target the
rights of women and girls, effectively erasing them from public life. 
These measures include banning women from education beyond 
the sixth grade, exclusion from most professions, full-body 
coverings everywhere outside the home, and barring them 
from public parks. 

“We cannot say that women and human beings in your own 
territories, in your own countries, deserve to live with respect
and dignity, but it’s okay for women of Afghanistan to live in the
situation they are in now.” – Fawzia Koofi, first woman Deputy
Speaker of the Parliament of Afghanistan

A group of women from Afghanistan brief reporters in October 2021 at UN Headquarters in the context of the Security Council open debate on women, peace and security. From left to right: Asila Wardak, former diplomat; Fawzia Koofi, the first woman Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament; Mariam Safi, executive director of the non-governmental organization DROPS; Naheed Fareed, former Afghan parliamentarian.

The UN Photo Library holds an extensive collection of images documenting the work of the United Nations. For detailed information on the images in this photo essay, follow the links below. Images are listed in order of appearance: UN7514102, UN Photo; UN7514098, UN Photo/PS; UN7514085, UN Photo/PS; UN7779177, UN Photo/Luke Powell; UN7685808, UN Photo/Helena Mulkerns; UN7715162, UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe; UN7387134, UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein; UN7386602, UN Photo/Fardin Waezi; UN7444318, UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein; UN7824719, UN Photo/Manuel Elías; UN7329199, UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein; UN7329211, UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein; and UN7915090, UN Photo/Loey Felipe.