By Valentina Horlander*
Kabul. Every single day of the past month, women in Afghanistan have put their lives on the line to resist against the Taliban regime’s segregation mandates.
These mandates include forced segregation of women in classrooms and order the use of the black, all veil covering Hijab.
Women have spoken up against this order. It is not a traditional garb worn by Afghani women, and those women who do wear it do so for familial purposes.
Despite these mandates, women are fighting back. Not only in Afghanistan, but also all over the world through social media. Marches, protests, street art and murals have been designated all throughout the country in hopes to counteract the authoritarian laws set in place by the Taliban.
Upset by these occurrences, the Taliban have erased protest murals, and have lashed the women they could find participating in the marches.
Risking their lives has not deterred these brave women.
The support from overseas has been overwhelming as well. In recent days, Afghan women from the United States and Europe have responded by taking to social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter and posting images in themselves in traditional Afghanistan ensembles.

Peymana Assad In Traditional Afghan Dress
The dresses include colorful drapes and bare skin, a sharp contrast to the blacked-out Hijab required by the Taliban.
One woman, a local United Kingdom politician originally from Afghanistan, Peymana Assad shared, “Our cultural attire is not the dementor outfits the Taliban have women wearing.” She has also shared her own photographs of what a traditional Afghan garb looks like. Before the Taliban came to Afghanistan, it was common to see women wearing colorful dresses instead of the full face covering required today.
The women leading the protests will not stop until they have equal rights in Afghanistan. Not only do they want equal rights, but also have called for representation.
They demand to have women be in the government. Despite the Taliban’s oppression of the protests, these women are still fighting.
They may have a long way to go, but it is their drive and endearment that will set forth a movement in support of women’s rights throughout Afghanistan.
*South Asia Analyst
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