Afghanistan: Weaponising Sexual Harassment

Freshta, 29, used to work for a government agency in Kabul. After the August 2021 Taleban takeover, harassment became a routine part of her day.

Fighters would enter her office, make themselves comfortable, and quiz her about her personal life. Often they would jump the queue and demand favours.

“The Taleban would bang on my desk with guns and say things like they have family members killed in the war [as suicide bombers], which means they deserve special treatment,” she said.

“I want this beautiful girl to take care of my business,” Freshta recalled one Taleban fighter demanding as he gestured towards her with his gun. Another time, a Taleban fighter threatened to kill her, Freshta said.

“He pointed his gun at me and said… ‘I will kill you. I spent ten years in prison because of [women] like you. I can take another ten years.’”

Then one day, when Freshta arrived at the office, Taleban militants noticed she had one button of her clothing undone and whipped her for it.

Despite spending six years in her role – although now receiving half the salary of her male colleagues – Freshta said that the sexual harassment and mental pressure were so extreme that she felt she had no choice but to resign.

“I hated being a woman,” she said, recalling her distress. “I could not bear all the mental and psychological pressure.”

Afghan women have been systematically excluded from public spaces ever since the return of the Taleban in August 2021. According to a recent report by the UN Women and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), more than 50 decrees limiting the basic rights and status of women have been implemented.

Those few women who have continued to work outside the home, often restricted to sectors such as healthcare, are subject to extreme sexual harassment and gender discrimination. With no legal recourse to complaint or protection, many have been effectively forced out of the workplace.

According to numerous reports, the Taleban have also weaponised sexual violence as a tool to punish those women who defy their rules.

A story from Rukhshana Media and The Guardian related how a women’s rights activist was gang-raped in a Taleban prison, while another report from The Times and The Guardian described how a teenage girl was driven to suicide after being arrested for wearing “improper hijab”.

Marwa, 28, used to work at a private hospital in a particularly conservative part of Kabul. Male patients spoke to her demeaningly, questioning her about her private life and saying things like, “You must be a naughty girl to be working at the reception.”

The harassment was not limited to visitors; her male colleagues, especially the hospital managers, continually pestered her, obtaining her phone number and texting her around the clock.

For a nine-hour workday, she was paid a monthly salary of ten thousand Afghanis (less than 150 dollars) that she nonetheless relied on to support her mother and sister.

The final straw came when she confronted her manager over his suggestive language. With no legal avenue for such complaints, not only were there no repercussions for her supervisor but he was able t take revenge.

As punishment, Marwa was prohibited from using the bathroom during work hours.

Seven months ago, she left her job. With few other options, Marwa is now engaged to be married to a man she has never even met.

Women had fought hard for their rights in the two decades following the Taleban defeat in 2001, breaking gender barriers in a highly conservative society to participate in politics, the economy and public life. Even during that period, harassment and gender discrimination was widespread, especially in small communities and towns.

Rona is a 29-year-old former employee of a charity organisation in one of the northern provinces of Afghanistan.

She said that for her and every other young women she knew, repeated sexual harassment at work was a routine part of life. Nonetheless, she loved her job, working alongside 12 other women in an office where they felt free to laugh and express themselves.

However, the office was closed as a result of pressure from her traditional community after the Taleban came back to power, and Rona lost her job.

Last year, she managed to find work on an educational project for a charity organisation, but conditions were so arduous that her mental health deteriorated and she was again forced to leave.

She and her female colleagues were not even allowed to enter the office, she recalled angrily.

“After a day’s hard work in remote villages, and enduring men’s catcalls and advances every step of the way, women had to sign out at the door and quickly leave because there was no place for us to rest--not even a chair to sit on,” she continued.

Rona was previously the family breadwinner but is now too scared to even leave her house. The town is small, and she can be easily recognised.

“Everything has changed,” she said. “If you go outside, people look at you as if they’ve seen a monster.”

Locations Afghanistan

Topics Women's rights, Women, Human rights