If you think nearly five years of enforced isolation — including losing the right to education — has broken the spirit of women and girls in Afghanistan, meet Medina (named changed for her protection).
Medina comes from a well-educated family. Her older siblings all completed university studies. Medina, however, was in high school when the extremist Taliban returned to power in 2021 after U.S. forces abruptly withdrew from Afghanistan. Less than a year later, the Taliban government decreed girls and women no longer could attend secondary school or college or pursue most professional careers and jobs outside the home.
The Taliban’s ideology regarding women is rooted more in conservative Pashtun tribal tradition than the Islamic law they claim to represent. But they’re in charge for now. The education ban and more than 100 other Taliban rulings restricting women’s rights have pushed Afghan girls and women ever deeper into social isolation.
Despite this reality, Medina is doing all she can to complete her education. She is one of 60 students in the Shokufa Network, studying online with American teacher Susan Micari.
How does Medina, now 20, cope day to day under these conditions? Here’s a condensed telephone interview with her:
Q: Do you still have educational and professional goals?
MEDINA: It’s so hard for Afghan girls and women, not having permission to continue their education at university and have jobs. My main goal is to complete my grade 12 and get a recognized certificate. I want to study abroad in the future, especially in the field of criminology.
Q: What is a typical day like for you?
MEDINA: Every day is the same. When I wake up, I pray to God. After that I eat breakfast and do the housework. And 24 hours I am at home. I don’t go anywhere. I have the evening, four days a week when we have a class with Teacher Susan.
Q: I hear you like to help others. Is that true?
MEDINA: I think we should help each other. I want to help everyone, because every girl in Afghanistan needs help. They need to be known. They need to be understood. Maybe 40% of our fathers and brothers help their daughters, their women at home. But most of them just want women to do their housework. Women and girls are alone.
Q: What gives you strength to keep going?
MEDINA: I think about my future. I’m not the girl that should be a housewife. I’m not the girl that should be under the power of the man and they should say everything and we should accept. I’m not that girl. I see myself in the dream job and dream life that I want. It’s not bad to be a housewife, but I say that I am not that girl, and that gives me power.
Q: If you had the freedom to do anything you would like to do in this world, what would it be?
MEDINA: I want to free every woman all over the world, not just in Afghanistan, especially those who are in my generation. I want to see them in a place where they have their complete rights.
Q: What would you say to men?
MEDINA: Every woman that you know, every woman that you have in your life, every girl, just support them, communicate with them and have good behavior with them. They need you.