‘Gender apartheid’: Why we can’t forget the women of Afghanistan

March 5, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Inspirational speeches over breakfast, long lunches, networking events, fun runs. If you’re female and have a social media account, your feed is likely inundated with upcoming events for International Women’s Day on March 8.

What you probably won’t see is the women the world forgot. All 21 million of them.

For the women of Afghanistan, there’ll be no fun runs (women are banned from playing sport and visiting parks); no singing or dancing (also banned); no public speeches (women’s voices are forbidden from being heard in public); and, like every other day since 2021, there’ll be no high school for girls.

Instead, it will be another day living under what the United Nations calls a “gender apartheid”.

It’s been almost five years since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and embarked on its ruthless campaign to systematically erase women from public life.

It’s banned most women from working, made them subject to the control of their male guardians, and inflicted inhumane punishments such as flogging for so-called “moral crimes” like adultery.

If you thought things couldn’t get much worse, recent reports show there is no limit to the Taliban’s cruelty. Under a decree issued in January, men will be permitted to beat their wives as long as it does not cause “broken bones or open........

© The Sydney Morning Herald