Back to basics: Fighting for women’s rights under the Taliban
Date:
Author: Alison Davidian
Nowhere in the world has UN Women’s mandate been more challenged, our reason for being more questioned, and our impact more scrutinised than in Afghanistan. When I’m in my darkest moments, and it feels overwhelming I remind myself that the struggle for women’s rights in Afghanistan is part of something bigger. It is the struggle of every woman who yearns to live a life of her own choosing. We belong to a global women’s movement that includes those who have been through too much to be tamed or broken, seeking the same goals so that all this experience and storied history is behind every Afghan woman and girl. This movement is more powerful than any military or weapon because it’s founded on a truth that is both simple and revolutionary – that men and women in all their diversity are equal and that our societies thrive when that equality is fostered, invested in, and celebrated.
As leaders in a protracted crisis, we need to play a long game that goes beyond three-year projects or our individual tenures in a country, potentially spanning generations. Demonstrating leadership against a background of normative erosion requires structural and institutional commitment and action. It requires not just UN Women but every UN agency to go ‘back to basics’ and invest in women. The challenges are too great for any individual, agency or actor to find solutions alone. This is the beauty and the power of ‘one UN’ – using our different mandates and access to collectively push for positive change in the lives of women and girls, anchored on their voices and priorities and our principles.
This featured story was originally published by the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, under the topic of UN leadership and normative erosion.
About the author
Alison Davidian is the Country Representative (a.i.) for UN Women in Afghanistan. She’s previously worked as a Programme Specialist on Governance, Peace and Security with UN Women's Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, managing the implementation of governance, peace and security programmes with a focus on preventing violent extremism, anti-trafficking, and access to justice. From 2013-2017, she was a Policy Specialist in the Peace and Security Unit at UN Women where she managed the transitional justice portfolio and led the creation of the preventing violent extremism portfolio for UN Women. Before her time at UN Women, she worked for organizations including the International Center for Transitional Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo, UNDP in Somalia, and the Refugee Advice and Casework Service in Australia.
To learn more about UN Women in Afghanistan visit: afghanistan.unwomen.org