In political discourses surrounding war, women’s rights are often presented as a justification for intervention. In these narratives, Muslim women are reduced to a simplified and uniform image, as if all are in the same situation and awaiting a single form of liberation.
Human rights activists also engage in these simplifications. Over the past two years, particularly around March 8, we have witnessed numerous events supporting the rights of women from Afghanistan and Iran, often drawing comparisons between their conditions. While this linkage is meaningful, it raises an important question: what exactly do these two groups of women have in common?
The reality is that Iranian and Afghan women live under very different circumstances.
For example, in terms of education, Iranian women make up about 60 percent of university students and hold the majority in many graduate and doctoral programs, especially in medicine and the sciences. In Afghanistan, however, the majority of women (74 percent) remain illiterate. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are officially barred from secondary and higher education.
Fertility rates also differ markedly. Iranian women have one of the lowest fertility rates globally (fewer than two children per woman), while Afghan women have one of the highest (five children per woman). Beyond personal opinions on the matter, the practical implications are clear: one group of women has more time and opportunity for mobility, economic participation, and engagement in public life outside the home.
For those like me who have lived in Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, these differences are obvious. During my childhood in Isfahan, I observed women fully and normally present in public spaces, which was always a positive sign of women’s agency. Seeing women driving, playing in the water, exercising, studying, attending mosques, and working was entirely normal. But as a teenager in Peshawar, and later as a working woman in Kabul, such options were unavailable to me. Although no law explicitly barred me, social norms made these paths difficult. Even mosques were practically male-dominated spaces.
Iran: A society ahead of the state
Iran’s legal system imposes numerous restrictions on women, such as in matters of divorce, inheritance, and testimony. Yet, it is also important to note areas where the state has provided tangible support that feminists in other countries, including the United States, have struggled to implement: more than six months of maternity leave in both the public and private sectors, flexible work arrangements, and universal access to healthcare and education.
More importantly, Iranian society itself has often moved ahead of the government. As surveys show, the majority of Iranians support women’s rights and individual freedoms. Iranian literature and cinema have long criticized gender injustices in the legal system.
Afghanistan: Fragile social foundations
The trajectory of women’s rights in Afghanistan has been entirely different. Feminism rarely emerged organically from society. Women’s rights have largely been used as a political tool by elites, from Amanullah Khan to the communists, the mujahideen, Western-backed governments, and now the Taliban. Each, from the top down, imposed its own image of the “ideal woman.”
I worked for a time in international development in Afghanistan. During the previous Western-backed government, gender mainstreaming was a condition for aid from American and European donors. These efforts produced tangible achievements: millions of girls attended school, women participated in literacy programs, maternal mortality declined, and international instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women were adopted. Yet social norms do not change in two decades and remain a major barrier. In fact, the Taliban exploit the widespread perception that the women’s rights agenda is an imported Western ideology. They often justify restrictions on women by appealing to tribal customs.
Paths to equality
In my view, meaningful change in women’s conditions comes through education, economic opportunities, and shifts in public attitudes. Each of these goals requires time and careful planning.
Iranian women have made significant progress in literacy and education. Moreover, Iranian society broadly supports women’s freedoms and rights. As seen in the 2022 protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, not only women but also men actively participated. After these protests, a form of daily, passive resistance emerged, which sociologist Asef Bayat describes as “life as politics”: his theory suggests that ordinary daily actions can themselves become a form of political movement. Iranian youth normalize daily freedoms through clothing choices, social interactions, and persistent presence on platforms like TikTok. Iranian society has charted a path toward greater freedoms, though it remains unclear how the current war will affect this trajectory.
In Afghanistan, the challenge is not limited to the restrictions of the Taliban regime; it also involves the absence of a broader will to defend women’s rights. Over the past five years, women have largely stood alone in asserting their rights, with few men supporting them. Mobilizing internal support requires engaging men, particularly religious scholars and local leaders. I believe women’s rights activists can, alongside attending conferences and international forums, expand engagement and advocacy with scholars, religious figures, and Muslim authorities to foster more localized dialogue and greater social acceptance.
Abstract theoretical debates about the roles of women and men have often produced counterproductive results. What has proven effective is focusing on practical areas. Actions that can contribute to gradual and sustainable change include: emphasizing the need for female staff in healthcare; ensuring women have national ID cards to access public services and, in the long term, land and property ownership; providing access to smartphones as a means of receiving information; creating income-generating opportunities for widows; literacy and vocational training for economic participation; expanding models of home-based work; and applying technology in agriculture, the sector employing the largest share of women.
Today, Afghan and Iranian women are at different stages on the path to equality. In recent years, Iranian women have focused more on individual freedoms and strengthening personal agency, while Afghan women continue to face fundamental challenges in accessing basic services, participating in public life, and engaging in daily living. International support is important for advancing this path, but strengthening and mobilizing domestic programs and capacities play a more critical and sustainable role.
You can read the Persian version of this analysis here:
