PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Not all women across the globe celebrated progress on International Women's Day.
Wazhmah Osman considers herself a secular Muslim. The Associate Professor of Media Studies at Temple University has family in Afghanistan and spent a few years there early in her career as a journalist during the Taliban’s first incarnation.
“It was a very scary time in Kabul,” Osman said. “Women were afraid to leave their homes. They tried to take my camera one time. Foot soldiers could just, you know, stop anybody and enact any type of violence.”
After the fall of the first Taliban more than 20 years ago, she says the country flourished, and women had a taste of certain freedoms, progressing in education and various fields.
But since the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan after the coalition forces withdrew in 2021, Afghan women have been stripped of many rights and pushed out of the workforce and universities.
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“High school-age girls are not allowed to go to class anymore. And now, they're putting more restrictions on women who go into universities, as well.”
“And they won't accept rolling all of that back. So what we see now that we didn't see in the first incarnation is that women are protesting regularly.”
Many have fled to nearby Pakistan, but those who stay and fight are fearful.
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“They're cracking down on protests they're, you know, trying to break up protests, using various tactics and methods, so it's still very dangerous.”
Osman says the world is watching as the fight for women’s rights continue.
“If there is international attention, that's going to put some pressure on the Taliban, to hopefully become a little bit more moderate and less harsh and their draconian rule.”