A way forward for women in Afghanistan
The project helping Afghan women build businesses and reclaim their futures under Taliban rule.
At first, it seemed hopeless. The dreams Zara* had cherished felt like a mockery as she considered her future. She was mid-way through a degree in Business and Administration, hoping to launch her own company one day, when the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan. It quickly became clear that the new regime would never allow her to stay at university and pursue the life she had planned.
Around her, friends and relatives went from shock to grief to despair as the ban on female education was followed by strict restrictions on employment, cutting women off from all but a few careers. Further rulings soon followed, barring them from many public spaces, making it difficult to move outside the home. Stuck inside, there was nothing to distract Zara from the hopelessness that grew each day.
Two and a half years later, the outlook remains bleak, but she refuses to give up. As the initial shock subsided, she began to search for new opportunities, aware that some women were finding different ways to pursue their goals, even under the watchful eye of the regime. “I heard a lot of stories about the Taliban in the nineties, and I was so afraid when they came to Kabul,” the 21-year-old says. “But there’s a little more space these days. We can at least work from home.”
This small space is where activists like Ahmad Shekib Sarwary focus their efforts to forge new opportunities for women under the Taliban. Last year, the former youth leader set up Empower Her Craft, a project that teaches women handicrafts so that they can sell products online. “After the collapse of the previous government, the situation became very bad for women, and we wanted to help,” says Sarwary. “This program gives women the opportunity to go out and do something positive with their lives. It’s a hopeful project for them in the midst of all the frustrations.”
Prior to the Taliban takeover, Sarwary hosted students in cultural camps around Afghanistan and ran trips to neighboring Uzbekistan. Juggling an active involvement in youth projects with his university degree kept Sarwary busy, but the collapse of the government put a stop to this work. Now, he focuses his energy on training women, inspired by the response he has received from participants, who have already sold several items to buyers in Australia and New Zealand.
It's a positive start, and Sarwary is optimistic that the demand for high-quality Afghan handicrafts domestically and abroad will give women a chance to support their families without attracting the attention of Taliban officials. Handicraft projects like this are permissible, he says, because they are not directly linked to education and women can work from home. “So long as genders remain segregated and there are no men on-site, they don’t have a problem with us,” he adds.
Watching the women’s progress is inspiring, but the project can only help a fraction of those who have been denied the lives they deserve. “The sad story is that there are many more women out there who are unable to access these opportunities and find work,” Sarwary says. To young people like him, the last few years feel like a cruel nightmare sprung from another era. “So much has changed. We were used to freedom, to expressing our ideas and doing as we pleased. Now, so many things are forced on us by outsiders telling us what to do. We’re at home, but it doesn’t feel like home at all.”
The Taliban has been swift to roll back women’s rights in Afghanistan, condemning a new generation to suffer the same oppression as their mothers under the first brutal regime. Within months of seizing power in August 2021, a series of new rulings had dismantled the gains of recent decades, which saw a rise in female education and employment. The difference, now, is that more Afghan women are educated and refuse to be condemned to a life behind closed doors.
Women like Zara, who has resumed her university studies online and joined Empower Her Craft to learn new skills and launch her own enterprise. While not the future she envisaged, it is a path to independence and a chance to fill her days with productive employment. “I’m still hopeless and frustrated, but now at least we can work from home. I plan to work on my skills, be independent, and run my own business,” she says.
She is one of 30 women participating in the project, using Innovation Hub funding to teach tailoring, embroidery, glasswork, and other skills to allow women to produce their own products to sell from home or online. The primary aim is to help women find a new career path and secure a reliable income that supports themselves and their families at a time when many people have lost their jobs in Afghanistan.
“We cannot change the restrictions or stop the human rights violations taking place under this despotic regime,” says Faisal Al Mutar, President of Ideas Beyond Borders. “What we can do, is help women access opportunities and achieve their potential by supporting courageous people like Ahmad, who is finding new ways for women to thrive, even in these difficult times.”
It is one of numerous projects operating with IBB support in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has stifled free expression, banned women from education, and re-written school curriculums to enforce their dogmatic beliefs. “Now more than ever, young people need to know that there is a world beyond Afghanistan. That’s why IBB is supporting organizations that provide access to reading materials for young people, from libraries and underground schools to lessons and workshops designed to support a love of learning through the written word,” Al Mutar adds.
Once the women at Empower Her Craft have mastered new skills, a second part of the project will help them create a retail space and launch their products online. It’s one of the few avenues left open to women like Khadija*, who had ambitions to become a journalist. “I wanted to be a news reporter or television host and share the truth,” says the 20-year-old, who was forced to leave school before taking her university entrance exams. “I wanted to be a role model and inspire other girls.”
There is a strong sense of camaraderie among women on the course. All have suffered the loss of their dreams and been forced to accept an unthinkable reality. Sara* was in the final year of an economics degree when she had to relinquish her studies. For a while, she could only despair at the loss of the life she had worked towards. “I became depressed, but I didn’t want to lose hope,” she says.
The only way ahead was to launch a small business, so she started to get involved in handicrafts. “When I came across the Innovation Hub and realized I could help other women learn these skills and set up their own business, I saw the potential to make a real impact,” says Sara, who became program manager at Empower Her Craft after calling on her own creative skills to find a way through the crisis.
Her plan now is to help other Afghan women find hope and forge new futures by redirecting their talents. “I want to show the world that Afghan women will find ways to work, create, and do amazing things, even with these restrictions,” she says. “Our women have strong hearts, and that is all it takes for us to keep going.”
*Ideas Beyond Borders uses pseudonyms to protect the identity of our partners in Afghanistan
This article was written by Olivia Cuthbert.