Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: WAM-PRACTICE-1, WAM-DATA-2

“‘Women used to have their own cell phones, but now they rarely do, because families cannot afford to have more than one per household, or the men take control of the phones,’ Haidari said. When Akhundzada said smartphones ‘were leading women astray,' the last door to help slammed shut. 'If women retain any control of the phone, it will be for very short periods, and they must delete all messages immediately,' she said. 'I have less and less access to women who are in great need of psychological support, at a time when their situation is getting more desperate and they need it more than ever. But now they are...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-1

“In the months after the Taliban’s return, Haidari said, the girls and women she was in contact with ‘were full of despair, anger, and a demanding spirit.’ After a few months, ‘I was shocked by how much they had changed. They now spoke calmly about how the Taliban had brought security. The girls themselves are now encouraging their peers to adhere to stricter dress codes, reminding each other to observe proper hijab and modesty. There is even competition over who can be more devout, wear more conservative clothing’” (para 4).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: GP-DATA-3

"This has emboldened Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has mocked Western outrage at the treatment of women and has doubled down on repression he justifies as Islamic law" (para 10).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DTCP-PRACTICE-1

“Batool Haidari, an Afghan psychologist, said… [T]he Taliban have compounded the abuse by making men responsible for female compliance with the dozens of decrees on how they should behave. If the women do not follow the rules, the men face punishment, exacerbating the terrible stress and violence within the household. She has counseled girls and women contemplating suicide and facing domestic violence; offered support to women who have been jailed without charge and beaten and raped by their captors. She has advised women on avoiding the sexual advances of male relatives, such as uncles and brothers-in-law. (Afghans generally live in compounds, of multiple generations, with sons bringing wives into the...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: ERBG-PRACTICE-2, IIP-PRACTICE-1, IIP-LAW-1, AFE-PRACTICE-1, AFE-PRACTICE-3, AFE-LAW-1, ASR-PRACTICE-2, ASR-LAW-2, SRACE-LAW-1

“Women cannot go to school beyond age 12; they cannot play sports or go to parks, use public baths, sing, recite poetry, read the Quran aloud to other women, raise their voices in public, or use smartphones. They cannot go out without a male relative or guardian. They can barely work anywhere” (para 13).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DACH-LAW-1

“On November 5, 2025, in Herat, Afghanistan, the Taliban imposed a new edict requiring women to wear a burqa before entering public hospitals. Women patients, visitors, and even medical staff must now wear a burqa to be allowed inside any public healthcare facility. A burqa is a full-body covering that leaves only a small mesh screen to see through, and it is neither rooted in religion nor traditional Afghan culture. Under the Taliban regime, women’s access to healthcare was already severely affected by restrictive policies, movement bans, and the closure of clinics due to funding cuts. These barriers have long left women unable to seek basic medical care. The new...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: IIP-LAW-1

"[T]he Taliban sends a clear message: to erase Afghan women from public life by forcing them under a blue polyester cloth that conceals their identity and presence" (Para 8).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: MMR-PRACTICE-1

"While Herat has already recorded a 28% decline in women seeking care, the long-term consequences are far more alarming for a country already grappling with maternal and child mortality and widespread malnutrition" (Para 7).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: RCDW-LAW-2

"I [Afghan woman] was accompanied by my brother – my ‘mahram’, or guardian – for single women like me are unable even to shop for groceries without a male chaperone. As Taliban rules also demand, I was covered from head to toe in my burka despite the stifling 30c heat" (para 3). "As the new law tells us [Afghan women]: ‘Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face and body'" (para 10).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: IIP-PRACTICE-1

"I [Afghan woman] was accompanied by my brother – my ‘mahram’, or guardian – for single women like me are unable even to shop for groceries without a male chaperone. As Taliban rules also demand, I was covered from head to toe in my burka despite the stifling 30c heat" (para 3). "Even buying medicine for your sick child is no armour against their ¬cruelty. Desperate for medicine for her sick son, a widowed friend was ‘caught’ at the bazaar alone. She was given a draconian fine, and told that next time she would be physically punished" (para 6). This information indicates women in Afghanistan are not free to move...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: GEW-PRACTICE-1

"A friend who once worked for a European NGO was told by a ¬Taliban fighter that her disloyalty could only be compensated for by ¬marrying him. When she refused, her brother was brutally beaten at a Taliban checkpoint, and she was run over by a car in the street leaving her hospitalized for a month. Terrified, she went into hiding until some contacts in the UK helped her and her family to escape" (para 33-34).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DTCP-LAW-1

"As the new law tells us: ‘Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face and body.’ Those who do disobey risk being fined if they are ‘lucky’ – and flogged or jailed if they aren’t. It is why the internet is the only way left for us to communicate, the -predominant emotion among Afghan women young and old is fear and despair" (para 10-11). "Earlier this year, the Taliban also announced the reintroduction of the public flogging and stoning of women for adultery, and they are only too aware that as a man’s word is prized over that of any...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: RCDW-PRACTICE-1, AFE-PRACTICE-1

"We [Afghan woman speaking on behalf of all women in Afghanistan] are banned from schools, offices, public baths, parks, and gyms. When we dare to step outside the confines of our homes, there must not be a single bit of our body or face visible apart from our eyes – through a mesh covering – and we must be accompanied by our husband or a male family member" (para 8).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: RCDW-LAW-1, IIP-LAW-1, RISW-PRACTICE-2

"Last summer, three years after they swept to power in August 2021, the scale of the Taliban’s ambition to erase women from public life was laid bare in their unveiling of an extensive set of 'vice and virtue' laws. Under the new rules, women were told to cover themselves completely when outside the house; not to allow their voices to be heard talking loudly; to only appear in public with a male escort and never to look at a man who was not their direct relation" (para 5-6).

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DTCP-PRACTICE-1

"'I [Amir, Afghan man talking about his two teenage daughters] insist that they wear the hijab and I tell them they are not allowed to laugh outside the house or at the market,' he says. 'The ‘morality police’ are very strict, and if they don’t comply, they might get detained'" (para 4). This information shows the existance of differential in treatment towards Afghan women should they not comply by the Taliban's laws (MR-CODER COMMENT). "Parwiz, a young man from a province in the north-east of Afghanistan says when his sister was detained by the Taliban’s 'morality police' for not wearing a hijab, he was terrified for her safety and determined...more