Afghan women struggle with the rules of male guardians

In Afghanistan, strict rules govern what women can do, with their advocates claiming they guarantee the honor of both the women and their entire families – Copyright AFP/File Guillermo Arias

Pascale Trouillaud and Qubad Wali

Since the Taliban returned to power, Afghan women have not been allowed to make long journeys, travel by plane or enter government buildings unless accompanied by a man.

Under the Taliban government’s austere interpretation of Islamic law, the ‘mahram’ practice, long ingrained in Afghan society, has become mandatory.

During a recent visit to their former university in Kabul, Mariam and a friend were stopped from entering the building to pick up a transcript.

“At the entrance, the Taliban told us we needed a mahram,” said Mariam, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, like other women AFP interviewed.

“But my brother was at work, my friend’s brother wasn’t old enough and her father had passed away,” she said.

“I saw a man on the street and he wanted to help us,” she said. “We had the courage to pass him off as our brother” to get in.

According to Islam, a mahram is a close male relative – usually a husband, brother, father, son, grandfather or uncle – with whom a woman is not required to wear a hijab, and who acts as her guardian and protector.

In Afghanistan, strict rules govern what women can do, with their advocates claiming they guarantee the honor of both the women and their entire families.

Taliban authorities, in power since 2021, have responded to international criticism by saying Afghan laws follow Islam and guarantee all civil rights under sharia law.

“Unfortunately, external circles have their own sensitivities and come up with incorrect interpretations based on envy and prejudice,” Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban government, told AFP.

“They must respect and appreciate Islamic laws.”

– ‘Go home’ –

In a country where more than forty years of conflict has left millions of widows, it can be a challenge for many women to actually find a mahram.

“Many women don’t have a husband at home,” said Shirin, 25, who is studying for a master’s degree online after being barred from university by authorities.

“Their husband has died, or their son is too young and they are the head of the family. How can they have a mahram?”

Traveling without a mahram can lead to arrest, with strict inspections, especially at checkpoints in cities and rural areas, several Afghan women told AFP.

Last year, Shirin said Taliban authorities cut short a picnic outing because she and other female members of her family were in a minibus driven by their cousin – the only male, and not a mahram.

One of the men grabbed Shirin’s cousin by the collar and told the women, who were in tears, to “go home.”

In December 2021, the Taliban government made it mandatory that any woman traveling longer than 72 kilometers (45 miles) must be accompanied by a mahram.

It then banned them from flying alone on both domestic and international flights in March 2022, complicating departures for some women who received scholarships to study at universities abroad.

Mahram customs have disappeared from practice in much of the Muslim world and are enforced by few governments.

But because Afghanistan “is ruled by an ideological regime, the Quran and Sharia form the backbone of its power,” according to Islam specialist and author Slimane Zeghidour, and “the country applies all regulations, even the most rigorous and anachronistic.”

Saudi Arabia, until recently one of the most repressive countries in the world when it comes to women’s rights, now allows women to make the pilgrimage to Mecca without a guardian.

But Afghan women are still not allowed to do this.

UN agent Spojmay told AFP that her 80-year-old widowed mother dreams of fulfilling the hajj, one of the pillars of Islam, before she dies.

“The travel agency has just confirmed that she cannot go abroad without a mahram,” said Spojmay, also using a pseudonym for fear of retaliation.

Despite earning a decent wage, the 37-year-old herself has had trouble renting an apartment without a mahram because her father has passed away and her brothers live abroad.

The lease stated: “I put my father’s photo, and for his fingerprint I used my sister’s,” she said.

The Taliban authorities would “beat me up and throw me in jail if they found out,” she added.

– ‘Humiliating’ –

Although women are already excluded from high schools, universities, certain jobs, parks and gyms, the mahram policy “effectively confines women to the home and indoors” and is “incredibly demeaning,” according to Sahar Fetrat of Human Rights Watch.

Khadija, 25, a consultant for women entrepreneurs, noted that in Kabul “the situation is different from the provinces: you can go shopping” without a mahram in the capital.

However, the practice is strictly enforced in more conservative rural areas.

For eighteen months, Khadija and her sister made home visits in Kabul for a vaccination program, and “had to take a mahram.”

Because of the rules, charities and UN agencies pay their female employees an additional salary for the mahram, sometimes up to $40 a day.

Khadija’s 32-year-old brother, Ahmad, is the only mahram for his mother and four sisters, which brings many complications.

“I’m the only man in the house,” he said. “But I also have my own job, I also have places where I have to be.”