Today is International Women’s Day - a global day for celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. But as we celebrate, I think it’s important that we remember those women around the world who don’t have a voice, who are still tirelessly fighting for their basic rights for access to education, to health care, to work and to decision making.
As someone who escaped from the Taliban in Afghanistan, I know what that struggle feels like and the journey I have been on to get to this point in my life as your Equity Officer, as a mum and as a student at UCL. As a woman, I’ve had to fight for my education, and for my right to be free.
That’s why it’s vitally important that we continue to talk about the challenges affecting women around the world - issues like gender inequality, the gender pay gap, gender-based violence, sexual violence, lack of access to education and employment, reproductive health, female genital mutilation, child marriage, disability, age and race.
And on top of all these challenges, many women are currently having to deal with the hardships of war. Women are losing their loved ones, their children, trying to escape, they are going missing, are killed, raped, frozen to death, all in the hope of crossing borders and gaining safety.
When I think about my own country and the hardships women have had to face, I can clearly see why we need to recognise women for a whole month, with Women’s History Month.
In the last couple of months, millions of women in Afghanistan have lost their jobs as teachers, entrepreneurs, government servants with many millions suffering from extreme levels of violence because of Taliban rule. Millions of women are suffering from violence and having to fight for their right to education, to work and to move freely. The lives of women and girls across the country have been brutally impacted since the takeover. Girls are banned from attending secondary school, women are unable to continue working and violence against women is on the rise.
Despite the horrors of killing, women and girls keep standing and keep fighting for freedom and education. They endlessly demonstrate their power and show that they are still getting up everyday to fight for change. Women are leading many movements across the country and bravely facing the Taliban even when there are guns pointed at them. Some have been jailed; others missing, but still, they are not giving up fighting for their rights.
Today I see these girls who have chosen to speak up for their rights and who are taking responsibility for their communities. Regardless of what society has told them; their place is not just in the home but as changemakers of Afghan society.
And as students, we must continue to be a voice for those women who are still silenced. Let us open up the opportunities for women, let us inspire others, let us allow women to have a choice. Let us help women who are in danger of sexual violence, let us help women to report harassment and let us stop normalising gender based violence.
We will only eliminate the challenges women face today by standing together and supporting each other. As a collective we have so much power to actually make change - I believe in us and the challenges we can solve. That’s also why I’m so passionate about female students at UCL and that’s why I’d love for us to come together and create a community of change, influence, safety.
With this in mind, and as part of our International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month events, I’ve helped organise a series of events all aimed at bringing us all together. Have a look below: