Taliban ban women from medical studies, protests erupt across provinces

On 2 December 2024, Afghan journalists and news agencies reported that Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada had issued a new decree banning women from enrolling and attending studies in medical institutes. According to Afghan media,  the decision was announced by the Taliban’s Minister of Public Health in a meeting with the heads of health institutes in Kabul. This new measure will ban women from studying midwifery, dental prosthetics, nursing, laboratory sciences, among other subjects.

Timeline of restrictions on women and girls’ education

The decision follows a series of restrictions on women and girls’ education. In March 2022, the de-facto authorities banned girls from studying beyond sixth grade (around 11 years-old). In December 2022, the decision was extended to a countrywide ban on women enrolling and studying in universities. In December 2023, Taliban authorities closed various private institutes, despite a lack of an official decision on the matter. In February 2024, the Taliban proclaimed that female graduates would be allowed to apply to study in public medical institutes in 11 provinces. However, that resolution was reversed in the most recent announcement.

According to AW sources in Kabul, the only remaining available form of secular education for girls beyond the sixth grade in the capital are English language courses offered by private centres at a high cost. This is likely the case in other urban areas, leaving women and girls from poorer families or rural areas without access to any secular form of education.

Reactions from international organisations

Following the decision, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) issued a statement on their website. The organisation, which runs projects in seven provinces where more than half of its employees are women, stated that “there is an insufficient number of female health care workers in the country”, and the “new constraints will further restrict access to quality health care and pose serious dangers to its availability in the future”.

On 9 December 2024, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a press release referring to the new measure as a “draconian ban”. OHCHR stressed that as only female practitioners are allowed to provide medical care to girls and women in Afghanistan currently, the new measure will “lead to unnecessary suffering, illness, and possibly deaths of Afghan women and children, now and in future generations, which could amount to femicide”.

Women’s protests as a response to the announcement

The decision to ban women from pursuing a higher education in the health sector was met with protests across the country. In Badakhshan, Kabul, Kapisa, and Takhar, dozens of female students gathered inside and outside their educational institutes protesting.

In Herat, women gathered outside the Taliban Governor’s compound, holding signs that read, “Education is our right”, “Science is our right”, and “Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave” (a popular saying in Dari). The group of protesting women were challenged by alleged Taliban members in Herat who were observed talking to the group, however, AW was not able to translate what was said between them. According to Afghanistan International, who shared the video, “Taliban fighters tried to disrupt the women’s protest”.

Most of the women chose to protest indoors, the majority in undisclosed locations and with their faces covered. AW identified five women-led organised groups protesting indoors. All the groups were created between 2021 and 2023, and have been active since, as seen in Table 1 below.

Table 1: List with the names of all women’s groups recorded protesting the Taliban’s new education restriction in December 2024, and their first recorded protest.

Reaction from armed opposition groups

In addition to women’s groups, one armed resistance group also reportedly acted in retaliation against the new restrictions. On 3 December 2024, the Afghan Freedom Front (AFF) shared a video allegedly showing an attack against Taliban vehicles. According to the AFF statement, the explosion targeted a Taliban convoy headed towards the 102-bed Khair Khana Hospital in Kabul to forcefully remove female nursing and midwifery trainees from the premises.

This is not the first time AW has recorded AFF claiming an attack in support of women: in January 2024, during ongoing arrests of women and girls by Taliban members on the accusation of improper clothing, AFF also targeted a convoy of Taliban vehicles in the Khair Khana neighbourhood of Kabul.

Remarks

The Taliban de facto administration has gradually placed increasingly severe restrictions on women and girls’ access to education since they took power in August 2021. Until recently, women were still allowed to train to become healthcare support workers. However, the most recent decision in December 2024 effectively prevents women from enrolling and studying in health institutes across the country.

With the new ban in place, girls beyond the sixth grade have no access to secular education in the country, with the exception of English courses offered by private institutions, likely only available in big cities. For most Afghan women and girls, religious institutes now represent the only option for education.