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From Iraq to Afghanistan to the US, basic freedoms for women are being eroded as governments start rolling back existing laws.
Just a few months ago a ban on Afghan women speaking in public was the latest measure introduced by the Taliban, who took back control of the country in 2021. From August the ban included singing, reading aloud, reciting poetry and even laughing outside their homes.
The Taliban’s ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice, which implements one of the most radical interpretations of Islamic law, enforces these rules. They are part of a broader set of “vice and virtue” laws that severely restrict women’s rights and freedoms. Women are even banned from reading the Koran out loud to other women in public.
In the past three years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken away many basic rights from women who live there, so that there’s very little that they are allowed to do.
From 2021, the Taliban started introducing restrictions on girls receiving education, starting with a ban on coeducation and then a ban on girls attending secondary schools. This was followed by closing blind girls’ schools in 2023, and making it mandatory for girls in grades four to six (ages nine to 12) to cover their faces on the way to school.
Women can no longer attend universities or receive a degree certificate nationally, or follow midwifery or nursing training in the Kandahar region. Women are no longer allowed to be flight attendants, or to take a job outside the home. Women-run bakeries in the capital Kabul have now been banned. Women are mostly now unable to earn any money, or leave their homes. In April 2024, the Taliban in Helmand province told media outlets to even refrain from airing women’s voices.
Afghanistan is ranked last on the Women, Peace and Security Index and officials at the UN and elsewhere have called it “gender apartheid”. Afghan women are putting their lives on the line — facing surveillance, harassment, assault, arbitrary detention, torture and exile — to protest against the Taliban.
Many diplomats discuss how important it is to “engage” with the Taliban, yet this has not stopped the assault on women’s rights. When diplomats “engage”, they tend to focus on counter-terrorism, counternarcotics, business deals, or hostage returns. Despite everything that has happened to Afghan women over a short period, critics suggest this rarely makes it onto diplomats’ priority list.
Iraq’s age of consent
Meanwhile, in Iraq, on August 4, an amendment to Iraq’s 1959 personal status law which would possibly lower the age of consent for marriage to nine years old from 18 (or 15 with permission from a judge and parents) was proposed by member of parliament Ra’ad al-Maliki and supported by conservative Shia factions in the government.
The law would have the potential of having matters of family law – such as marriage – adjudicated by religious authorities. This change could not only legalize child marriage but also strip women of rights related to divorce, child custody and inheritance.
Iraq already has a high rate of underage marriage, with 7% of girls married by 15 years old, and 28% married before the legal age of 18.
Unregistered marriages, not legally recorded in court but conducted through religious or tribal authorities, prevent girls from accessing civil rights, and leave women and girls vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and neglect, with limited options for seeking justice.
Many women’s groups have already mobilised against the law. But the amendment has passed its second reading in parliament. If introduced, it could pave the way for further modifications that deepen sectarian divides and move the country further away from a unified legal system. It would also be an especially troubling step backward in protecting children’s rights and gender equality.
Abortion rights in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., women’s access to abortion has been eroded significantly in the past few years. In late 2021, the U.S. was officially labelled a backsliding democracy by an international think tank.
Six months later, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Roe v Wade, which had safeguarded the constitutional right to abortion for nearly 50 years, was overturned. This led to a cascade of restrictive laws, with more than a quarter of U.S. states enacting outright bans or severe restrictions on abortion.
Republican U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested, in May 2022, that women should stay celibate if they did not want to get pregnant. If only all women had that choice. In fact, in the U.S. a sexual assault occurs every 68 seconds. One in every five American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape. From 2009-13, U.S. Child Protective Services agencies found strong evidence indicating that 63,000 children per year were victims of sexual abuse.
These developments reflect a troubling pattern. There is evidence from Donald Trump’s first term that there could be further erosion of women’s rights in his second presidency. During his previous term there were significant attempts to weaken healthcare access, with his foreign policy reinstating the “global gag rule” restricting access to women’s reproductive healthcare worldwide via funding conditions.
Fragility of women’s rights
If the world can tolerate the Taliban’s abuses, Iraq’s restrictive laws and the US restrictions on abortion access, it reveals the fragility of women’s and girls’ rights globally, and how easy it is to take them away.
The U.N. agency, U.N. Women, says it could take another 286 years to close the global gender gaps in legal protections. No country has yet achieved gender equality, based on the gender pay gap, legal equality and social inequality levels. Women and girls continue to face discrimination in all corners of the world, and it seems to be getting worse. But despite everything women continue to resist.
Hind Elhinnawy is Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University, England.
The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.
- External Link
- https://theconversation.com/how-womens-basic-rights-and-freedoms-are-being-eroded-all-over-the-world-243302
29 Comments
Negative Nancy
There are a number of protesters in Afghanistan, but there are a heck of a lot more women who are complicit to their rights being removed by doing nothing at all about it. Are they really crying out for help, or do they simply prefer the lifestyle under that regime? From our point of view, the treatment of women under that regime seems barbaric and wrong, but perhaps it is not seen in the same way there owing to different cultural norms. Its good to be empathetic to people, but perhaps they don't even feel like they're in need of help?
Desert Tortoise
Do you understand what fear is? Women in such societies who speak out or defy laws are killed. Family members kill defiant women for "dishonoring" their family and the local courts and laws uphold these honor killings.
It is more subtle in the US but leaving a religion that treats women as second class citizens, which some notionally "christian" denominations most certainly do, often results in being ostracized by family and friends.
In places like Afghanistan there are no support organizations for abused women. Such organizations are prohibited. Even writing about woman's rights is banned. Defying these laws and traditions leads to death.
But some chirpy fat westerner from the safety of mom's basement tosses it all off as if the women like their situation.
Negative Nancy
No. The points you have made a very valid- the fear of death and torture and the systemtic nature of this treatment. Nobody in their right mind would deny how terrible it is. But the regime changed. They were granted the freedoms that are cherished by most societies, and how long did that last?
The article also mentions the ridiculous situation in America.... but people overwhelmingly voted for that particular administration... twice! Don't blame those who took power and made laws, blame those who let them!
Anonymous
Go ahead. Compare Afghanistan and the US. Worthless.
Zaphod
The common denominator is Shariah law, which codifies the status of women strictly on scripture. The more literal Shariah, the closer a society is to Afghanistan. But as usual for the press, the article blanks out the ideological background for the situation.
bass4funk
Some religions, please don’t generalize.
Other than the second largest religion after Christianity, I don’t many that are harmed, brutalized or ostracized.
Zaphod
bass4funk
The often-heard comparison with Christianity is invalid, as Christianity does not have the equivalent of a Shariah law and the scripture-based demand that such law is unchangeable and supersedes secular law. The issues the article raises are tied to Shariah, and not to the old testament or some such.
Geeter Mckluskie
Babies rights Trump a woman’s right to kill them
virusrex
So the example of the US is also because of Shariah Law? Which of the states where women's basic rights are being eroded are under it?
But since the point (less rights for women) also happen under societies overwhelmingly Christian then the comparison holds. The explanation that you propose originates the erosion of rights is not present in examples of the article, so it is deeply inadequate.
virusrex
For this, of course, becomes absolutely necessary to objectively define what is a baby. Else it would be as easy as to say an embryo is not a baby.
HopeSpringsEternal
Erosion an exaggeration, as media focuses purely bad stories and not the MANY positive progresses for women globally = 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
For example, MANY women (and men) far prefer state's to legally define and in some cases limit abortion in the US rather than have Federal Govt. define and NOT control = allowing legal execution of babies at full term.
After all EVERY country in Europe places time limits on abortion, have women lost their rights there as well?
Voters and Democracy win and of course US state's legal rights on abortion or other issues can evolve over time. Fact, number of US abortions is NOT dropping.
Zaphod
virusrex
It is NOT codified in immutable religious law, which can be debated and changed. And as for the US, the article only mentions the abortion debate, which is not strictly about womens rights but rather the balance of rights of unborn humans vs the rights of the women. It is an ethical dilemma which can debated endlessly, with people reaching different conclusions (as you can see in different laws about this in different countries and states). You only make my point, thank you.
Geeter Mckluskie
An ultrasound reveals that a baby responds to voices with facial expressions in the third trimester.
https://nypost.com/video/unborn-baby-smiles-at-dads-voice/
virusrex
Erosion do not mean progress is not achieved, or that the situation is the same around the globe, it just mean that the steps forward were not meant to be temporary situations but progress that would be kept, so each step back calls for attention.
Was it ever a completely unregulated, unlimited right? not being an absolute right do not mean something was lost to reach the current point.
Which of course involve also factors that would make abortion unnecessary (like fertility control measures).
Which means not even this excuse could be used to explain the erosion, yet it exists and it is becoming more important, that means that being debated and changed did not prevent the loss of rights under Christian societies.
Assuming "unborn humans" is a Christian concept, not an objective medical reality. You are contradicting your own claim.
So this is what you propose as an objective parameter? if the pregnancy product do not respond to voices with facial expressions then it can be aborted?
Some dude
You want to find the happiest women, find the countries where religion is in decline.
Zaphod
virusrex
I would think it is simply a biological fact. Embryos turn eventually into adult beings, in humans as in all other animals.
That said, you have a point there. "Sanctity of life" is a Christian concept, and it is missing in Shariah law.
Zaphod
virusrex
You misunderstood what I said. (Maybe my fault, because I forgot to the "can not", sorry. I thought the typo was obvious).
So again: Religious law like Shariah is immutable, applies to everyone and for eternity, and can not be changed, as it is the word of god for all of humanity. Which is why countries like Afghanistan have the issues mentioned in the article.
Secular law in Western countries is decided by humans and can be debated and changed. Which is why it is unacceptable for religious dogmatics like the Taliban. Clearer?
falseflagsteve
Women are treated equally in Western Societies and revive preferential treatment for some things. The gender wage gap is a myth, if the women are doing the same jobs as men and work the same hours they receive the same pay.
Zaphod
Some dude
Not sure how you want to judge such a thing. It is incredibly subjective. If you mean the UN's World Happiness Report, take that with the same amount of salt as any other enlightened information emitted by political body...
Some dude
Not sure how you want to judge such a thing. It is incredibly subjective. If you mean the UN's World Happiness Report, take that with the same amount of salt as any other enlightened information emitted by political body...
It's fairly easy to judge if religion is in decline in a country. Just look at attendance figures for churches / mosques / synagogues, and other places of religion. For instance, those figures have been going down in the UK for ages, and more and more people define themselves as "not religious". There are some numbers here:
https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html
Now I'll be the first to admit that there are plenty of other reasons to be dissatisfied in the UK, but inequality between men and women isn't really one of them. In the last decade we had two female prime ministers in fairly quick succession (and yes, one of them was outsmarted by a lettuce, but she was still a woman) and the current leader of the opposition is a woman.
Those "happiness surveys" pretty much always have the same outcome (top five are usually Scandinavian countries, and I imagine that researching their statistics on religion would give similar results), but that's probably just as much to do with their social security systems and so on. There are clearly more variables than just religion or lack of it.
I'm not American so I can only go by what i gather. Namely, the southern and / or red states are uber-religious and they tend to be the strictest with their abortion bans; the incoming administration looks like it might be what Frank Zappa many years back called a "fascist theocracy", and Trump's made no secret of alluding to a total nationwide ban. Not ideal if one is a woman, I would say.
Zaphod
Some Dude
Absolutely not. None of the people in the Trump team are hyper-religious.
False. I do not know from what news organization you got that false claim from, but you can look up what he actually said. Be careful with "information" from the three-letter mainstream media gaggle.
Also, I find it quite weird to define "happiness" in terms of abortion. Most people have other things to worry about. Btw, is Butan not supposed to be the happiest country in the world?
Some dude
You're evidently of the opinion that Trump is a god and will accept no criticism of him, so I will leave this here and bow out of the conversation. I'm not arguing with someone whose mind is nailed shut.
https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/11/25/trumps-defense-secretary-nominee-has-close-ties-to-idaho-christian-nationalists/
Excerpt:
Hegseth is a member of a Tennessee congregation affiliated with Christ Church, a controversial congregation in Moscow, Idaho, that has become a leader in the movement to get more Christianity in the public sphere.
In an appearance last year on the Christ Church-connected streaming show “Crosspolitic,” Hegseth talked about how building up fundamentalist Christian education systems is important in what he sees as a “spiritual battle” with the secular world. He sees Christian students as foot soldiers in that war and refers to Christian schools as “boot camp.”
Zaphod
Some dude
I am absolutely not of that opinion, and I have criticized him often enough about issues where he is wrong. I simply pointed out that your claim about his abortion stance is false.
And about this "Hethset" character I would need need more information than one biased newspaper article.
I wonder whose mind is nailed shut here.
bass4funk
No one thinks he's a God, no one.
What is wrong with being a Christian?
I think that seems to be more baseless gossip from the left. But even if it is true, what is wrong with being a Christian? As long as he is not pushing his religion in your face publicly
Tokyo Guy
*You're evidently of the opinion that Trump is a god and will accept no criticism of him, so *I will leave this here and bow out of the conversation. I'm not arguing with someone whose mind is nailed shut.
Smart move for your mental health. Trying to argue with MAGA is like the proverbial game of chess with the pigeon. I read that article you posted. It completely refutes that guy's claim that "none of the people around Trump are hyper-religious", but don't expect them to read it. Or if they do, they will simply ignore what it says and change the subject.
bass4funk
Because we can dish it out and match your antagonistic argument?
Is that a bad thing?
So now you generalize and have ALL Trump supporters pegged?
But liberals never, ever ignore opposing points of view?
DizLass
The current rise in nationalistic politics will naturally lead to an increase in violence against women and 'foreigners.'
In times of economic stress, women, foreigners and minorities will be blamed by the poor, unsuccessful members of the dominant race for their failures.
It has been played out many times over many centuries. It's surprising that we haven't yet realized that we continually do this in times of economic stress. When times are tight, right-wing politics dominate. In more prosperous times, liberal policies are more favorable.
bass4funk
I call BS on that.
Particularly if they are illegal, I would tend to think so.
It has nothing to do with Right-leaning politics, violence towards women happens across the political and racial spectrum. At the moment we are seeing more illegal violence being perpetrated on American citizens than the opposite, just look at the stats and look how many women this year alone in the US were raped by a non-citizen.
Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with sex offenses and homicide convictions could be loose on the streets, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data provided to lawmakers this week.
The agency provided data to Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, about national data for illegal immigrants with criminal charges or convictions. The data, as of July 2024, is broken down by those in detention, and those who are not in detention -- known as the non-detained docket. The non-detained docket includes illegal immigrants who have final orders of removal or are going through removal proceedings but are not detained in ICE custody. There are currently more than 7 million people on that docket.
The data says that, among those not in detention, there are 425,431 convicted criminals and 222,141 with pending criminal charges. Those include 62,231 convicted of assault, 14,301 convicted of burglary, 56,533 with drug convictions and 13,099 convicted of homicide. An additional 2,521 have kidnapping convictions and 15,811 have sexual assault convictions.
There are an additional 1,845 with pending homicide charges, 42,915 with assault charges, 3,266 with burglary charges and 4,250 with assault charges.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/tens-thousands-illegal-immigrants-sexual-assault-homicide-convictions-roaming-us-streets
Zaphod
Tokyo Guy
Ah., the garbage deplorables, right? I just watched a conversation with Cenk Uygur from the Young Turks, where he explains that the arrogant dismissal of the other side is one of the main reasons for the downfall of the current democrats, and the reason he suddenly became so unpopular with that. It is the echo-chamber mentality constantly reinforcing itself.
Btw, many members of the Trump team are not "Maga", to the contrary.
I read the article from the "Tennessee Lookout", and it does not do anything of the sort. It is mostly accusation based on association regarding one guy, and the "Tennessee Lookout" hardly feels like an unbiased publication. The writer of the article is hosting a podcast on NPR (very unbiased, LOL) which takes aim at "Christian nationalists" who the writer claims want to install "theocracy".
It seems that for many of the enlightened elite, just finding any article supporting their belief is enough. Rather than looking at several sources and asking questions. I suppose if you do that, you are a pigeon...