[18] During the Durrani Empire (1747–1823) and the early Barakzai dynasty Afghan women customarily lived subjected in a state of purdah and gender segregation imposed by patriarchal customs.

[29] King Amanullah Khan's deposition caused a severe backlash, and his successor reinstated the veil[30] and repelled the reforms in women's rights, reinforcing purdah.

[37] During his tenure as Prime Minister from 1953 to 1963, Sardar Mohammad Daoud implemented several progressive policies and laws to support women's rights in Afghanistan.

He actively encouraged women to take part in public offices and introduced female staff members in various institutions such as Aryana Afghan Airline, the Tele-Communication department, and other organizations.

[39] When the clerics could not find such a passage, the Prime Minister declared that the female members of the Royal Family would no longer wear veils because the Islamic law did not demand it.

[42] In the cities, women were able to appear unveiled, serve in public office and hold jobs as scientists, teachers, doctors, and civil servants, and they had a considerable amount of freedom with significant educational opportunities.

Through this period, women got more freedom than at any other time; right to education and to work, the possibility of joining political parties officially, and becoming representatives of the people in parliament.

[47][48][49][50] Afghanistan transitioned into a Republic in July 1973 following a coup led by former Prime Minister Mohammad Daoud Khan, who ousted King Zahir Shah.

Daoud, a liberal nationalist, assumed the role of President and immediately expressed his intention to dismantle unjust patriarchal and feudal relationships between husbands and wives.

[38] President Daoud also made efforts to develop the female human resource pool by encouraging women to enroll in higher education institutions and pursue careers in the public and private sectors.

The policy of compulsory schooling for girls as well as boys was met with a strong backlash from the conservative rural population, and contributed to the resistance against the Soviets and the Communist regime by the Mujahideen, the Islamic guerillas.

[61] With a few exceptions, such as Anahita Ratebzad, Masuma Esmati-Wardak and Salcha Faruq Etemadi, most women were active at the low and the middle level of party hierarchy rather than the top.

During the instable political situation in which different Islamic parties fought one another for domination, women in Kabul were abducted from their homes, jobs and offices and subjected to various forms of abuse by rivaling Mujahidin groups.

[74] A 2011 government report found that 25 percent of the women and girls diagnosed with obstetric fistula, a preventable childbirth injury in which prolonged labor creates a hole in the birth canal, were younger than 16 when they married.

In February 2014, Afghanistan passed a law that includes a provision that limits the ability of government to compel some family members to be witnesses to domestic violence.

[90] According to the new law signed by president Ghani in September 2020, Afghan women were allowed to include their names on their children's birth certificates and identification cards.

[97] In May 2022, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice published a decree requiring all women in Afghanistan to wear full-body coverings when in public (either a burqa or an abaya paired with a niqāb, which leaves only the eyes uncovered).

The decree said enforcement action including fines, prison time, or termination from government employment would be taken against male "guardians" who fail to ensure their female relatives abide by the law.

[105] In March 2015, Farkhunda Malikzada, a 27-year-old Afghan woman was publicly beaten and slain by an angry mob of radical Muslims in Kabul on a false accusation of Quran desecration.

[111] In April 2020, HRW reported that in Afghanistan, women with disabilities face all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment while they are accessing government assistance, health care and schools.

[112] On 14 August 2020, Fawzia Koofi, a member of Afghanistan's peace negotiating team, was wounded in an assassination attempt near the capital, Kabul, while she was returning from a visit to the northern province of Parwan.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned the massive unemployment of women, the restrictions placed on the way they dress, and their access to basic services.

Afghan women have a high incidence of IPV backstory, and several sociodemographic parameters, such as conflicts in Afghanistan and level of education, make them more susceptible.

[121] On 23 January 2025, International Criminal Court issued two warrants against the Taliban supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and the Chief judge, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for committing the crimes against humanity with the oppression and persecution of Afghan women and girls by depriving their freedom of movement, the rights to control their bodies, to education, and to a private and family life.

Other notable Afghan women include Naghma, Aryana Sayeed, Seeta Qasemi, Yalda Hakim, Roya Mahboob, Aziza Siddiqui, Mary Akrami, Suraya Pakzad, Wazhma Frogh, Shukria Asil, Shafiqa Quraishi, Maria Bashir, Maryam Durani, Malalai Bahaduri, and Nasrin Oryakhil.

[134] On 5 June 2023, The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has received permission to resume its humanitarian operations in the southern part of Kandahar, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of the Taliban.

During the Taliban regime, many women who had previously been teachers began secretly giving an education to young girls (as well as some boys) in their neighborhoods, teaching from ten to sixty children at a time.

As of 2019, almost 900 graduates of Kazakhstan's programme serve in top positions in the Afghan president's office, government ministries, the border guards and police, while others work as respected doctors, engineers and journalists.

For a young sportswoman to succeed, she needs not only to excel in her field, but also to navigate family pressures and social taboos which do not favour women playing sport.

[159] This event was considered unique at the time when it occurred, but it was an exception, because Rora Asim Khan was a foreign citizen, who obtained her divorce with the assistance of the German embassy.