Gender Apartheid And Mental Health Crisis In Afghanistan

On April 30, 2025, Rukhshana Media, an Afghan women’s media organization, reported on the tragic death of a young Afghan woman. The woman died after setting herself on fire in Taywara district, Ghor province, in an alleged attempt to escape a forced marriage. The Taliban de facto authorities have not commented on the case. Human rights organizations working on the situation in Afghanistan have been warning about the growing issue of suicide among women in Afghanistan, which they link to the omnipresent restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan that effectively erase them from public life.

The return of the Taliban in August 2021 was followed by women and girls being stripped of their rights one by one. The last three years have seen the Taliban placing restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives in Afghanistan. From education to employment. From movement to participation in everyday activities. When the international community thought that it could not get any worse for women in Afghanistan, the Taliban kept coming up with new ways to impose more restrictions on women. On May 1, 2025, the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) reported that the Taliban had followed through on their decrees aimed at erasing women from public life in the country and restricting their freedom of movement. UNAMA continues to receive reports that Afghan women are being denied the opportunity to join the workforce, are unable to access services without a male relative, while girls are still deprived of their right to education.

These restrictions have a profound effect on the health and well-being of women and girls across Afghanistan. In 2022, addressing the UN Human Rights Council, Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament, said that lack of opportunity and ailing mental health, was taking a terrible toll on women and girls: “Every day there is at least one or two women who commit suicide for the lack of opportunity, for the mental health, for the pressure they receive.” A 2024 report from UN Women suggested that 68% of those interviewed knew at least one woman or girl who had suffered from anxiety or depression, and 8% of respondents knew at least one woman or girl who had attempted suicide. The report relied on interviews from 2023. As the Taliban’s grip over women and girls has tightened over the subsequent years, their experiences have only deteriorated. Mursalina Amin, founder of Girls Toward Leadership, warned that “The situation is so severe that even talking about it makes them cry. They are trapped—no education, no movement, no self-expression. All those dreams they built in their minds, they are now nothing. They don’t even have the language to describe what they’re going through. Every Afghan girl I’ve spoken to has mental health issues, but they can’t speak about it.”

As the rights of women and girls have been removed, and international monitors have little if any access to the country, reporting on the situation is highly challenging. International journalists are being banned from entering Afghanistan, and Afghan media outlets are closed down or subjected to severe reporting restrictions and censorship. Reporters Without Borders reported on the litany of restrictions, including banning political debates and any content critical of the Taliban, covering demonstrations, broadcasting music, and publishing any images of living beings. The Taliban also prohibited women from working as journalists and their presence in the information space. All these restrictions ultimately mean that the information about the true nature and scale of the dire situation of women and girls in the country will never see the light of day.

Women and girls in Afghanistan struggle to seek and access the assistance they need – whether in the country or abroad. The mental health crisis unleashed by the system of gender apartheid imposed on them will not cease in silence. In silence, the mental health crisis will only deteriorate and claim more lives. On top of this, women who managed to escape to Pakistan, in the pursuit of safety, now face deportations back to Afghanistan. In April 2025, Pakistan deported tens of thousands of Afghans and accelerated its drive to expel undocumented Afghans and those on temporary permits. Reportedly, between 700 and 800 families have been deported daily. Up to two million people are expected to be deported over the coming months. Options to seek refuge in other countries are limited.

Women and girls in Afghanistan require the international community to stand up for their rights until they are guaranteed their human rights in the country. Without the human rights of women and girls becoming a reality in Afghanistan, the international community cannot accept doing business with the Taliban as usual.