Witness 14 Audio Testimony

I am Tayba from Afghanistan, a country that has witnessed and continues to witness years of tyranny, injustice, and inequality against women. Today, I want to discuss all the struggles and pains my companions and I have endured, to express what we have been through. These are not just my words; this is the pain of women who have been silent for the past four years and could not speak out. They were alive but not living; they were just breathing.

After the new government came to power, all our dreams were altered and destroyed. They banned us from going to school and university, and they even dismissed us from our jobs. I currently live in a society where the presence of women has been minimized. We suddenly reached a situation where we are deprived of our most basic rights.

One of our rights is work, which is extremely important because without it, a person cannot be independent or have individual autonomy. Currently, we women have neither independence nor individual autonomy, and we must be dependent on and involved with men for the rest of our lives. Before the new government (the Taliban) took power, women in my province, the northeastern provinces, were even more active than men. Women worked in government offices, the majority were teachers, and they had a strong presence in government institutions and offices. But where are they today? All women are confined to their homes; they have been eliminated from government institutions and offices. Not only were we eliminated, but we currently do not even have the right to enter government offices to process our documents and affairs.

These restrictions and violations of rights have caused women to lose their income. They have become dependent on the meager incomes of men and on charitable organizations, while women could and still can work and earn an income. I am the youngest member of a ten-person family. My father is sick and cannot work; only my two brothers work. It is very difficult for these two brothers to meet their own needs, their wives’ needs, their children’s needs, and the needs of my mother and me.

They have not only taken away our right to work but also our rights to dignity and identity. Our right to education, our civil rights, and our right to movement have also been taken away. We have no right to ownership and no right to be present in society to travel alone; we are fundamentally deprived of all our rights.

In my province, the restrictions are even more severe. Girls above sixth grade cannot attend school. Universities, institutes, courses, and academies are all closed to girls. Even within our own province, we need a male guardian (mahram); we cannot go anywhere without one. Even when we go to a relative’s house, they ask us on the road, ‘Where is your mahram? Why is your mahram not with you?’. ‘Where is your mahram?’. Currently, women in our province are practically imprisoned within the four walls of their homes. This has caused girls and women who were educated, full of energy and emotion, to become despondent and hopeless about life.

A former classmate of mine, a very hardworking and dedicated girl from a low-income family, successfully passed the entrance exam to study curative medicine in Herat. She was genuinely happy, and I was happy for her. But after two and a half years—after the universities were shut down—that poor girl returned. Believe me, she was in a very bad state. I cried for her, and she was crying too. She was in pain, but there was no one to listen to her pain. She is still crying; all her dreams are gone. I see the psychological impact in her expressions and her speech.

They have even taken away our right to life. We have no political rights and no role in the country’s decision-making. We have no right to vote, we are not in the parliament, and we are not in the councils. No woman has the right to be present in the Taliban government. They constantly suppress women even in peaceful assemblies. Even in the province where I live, women speak in fear and terror when they discuss political rights. Women who protested and spoke out faced threats and violence. We are deprived of all our rights; our voices have been silenced in every way.

I was a girl who tried to become economically independent as quickly as possible. Everyone in my family was busy with their own lives, and all the women in our house were working. I was studying English Language and Literature, and in addition, I had an income. I taught at an academy and had wonderful students. I also worked as an intern in various domestic and foreign offices to learn how to work and find a good job when I graduated. But no, they dragged us out of everywhere and closed every door on us. I did not give up; I went back and studied midwifery because girls could still study midwifery, so I could earn an income this way and help my family.

Even though I currently work and have a job, I face a lot of ugly behavior and laws that exist neither in the state nor in religious books. They have created laws that they themselves imposed and made up.

This story is not just mine; it is the story of the girls and women of my province and my country. Families are slowly becoming poorer, and girls and women are suffering from depression. The academic talents of women and girls have significantly declined; it has been four years since they have had a place to work or study. The situation of women in the current state of our country is very bad.

But I am still happy that there are people who listen to our voices and pay attention to our pain and our problems. Perhaps our story and our words won’t bring change, but the fact that you are listening and trying means a lot to us girls. We appreciate the efforts and hard work of those who have not remained silent for our sake and are trying to help us reach the rights we need. We want them to grant us the right to work and the right to education. This is not a request for a favor; this is our right—our basic human right. We want the right to work, the right to civil freedom, and political rights.

Depriving us women of these rights means depriving all of Afghanistan of justice and a bright future.

Thank you all.