Afghanistan’s history repeatedly demonstrates that ignoring half of its population leads to disaster. Throughout history, women have either been excluded from major decision-making or included only symbolically. This structural marginalization has been a core factor in the fragility and failure of successive governments.
During the republican period, women gained new opportunities, but the walls of discrimination remained intact. Their presence in public administration increased but rarely translated into decisive influence. Often, it remained symbolic, as power structures stayed overwhelmingly male-dominated.
With the fall of the republic, these hard-won gains vanished almost overnight. The Taliban re-established a system that can rightly be called **gender apartheid**, removing women not only from politics but from public life entirely. Education, work, social participation, and even public presence for women are treated as crimes.
Why is women’s representation in power so critical? The answer is simple: no government can be effective, legitimate, or accountable without meaningful participation of women. Global experience shows that women in policymaking lead to fairer decisions, better services, and increased public trust. Excluding women means excluding justice, development, and the future itself.
The problem in Afghanistan is not only the Taliban. It is also the deeply entrenched patriarchal mindset embedded in administration, politics, and culture over decades. Even during the republic, women faced **glass ceilings**—invisible barriers blocking their rise to senior positions. Where women were present, they were often concentrated in traditional ministries such as health and education, not in power-heavy sectors like security, finance, and infrastructure.
The key lesson from the fall of the republic is clear: if women’s representation is not genuine, rooted in society, and shaped by their participation, any policy on gender inclusion will remain fragile.
Today, Afghan women have not been silenced, even after being excluded from formal power. From exile and migration, they have built digital movements, broadcasting their voices globally. This resistance must continue—organized, purposeful, and in collaboration with male human rights defenders, civil society, and the international community. The struggle for women’s representation is not merely a gender issue—it is essential to break Afghanistan’s cycle of crisis.
Afghanistan’s future will be bleak without women in leadership. Building a just and sustainable country requires women to hold real, substantive positions at the highest levels of power. This is not a choice—it is a necessity.
