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The Taliban’s fear of women is not a literal fear in the personal sense, but a political and ideological one. Their suppression of women stems from a deep-rooted anxiety about social control, cultural purity, and the maintenance of a rigid, patriarchal order. Here’s a breakdown of why the Taliban treat women as such a threat:
1. Women Represent Social Change
Educated, visible, and empowered women are a sign of modernization and secularism—precisely the forces the Taliban want to crush. Women attending school, working, or speaking out in public contradict the Taliban’s fundamentalist vision of an Islamic society. They symbolize a liberal, pluralistic world order that threatens their rigid interpretation of Islam.
2. Female Autonomy Challenges Patriarchy
The Taliban’s ideology is built on a strict hierarchy, with men at the top. A woman who asserts her independence—by seeking education, working, or appearing in public without a male guardian—undermines that hierarchy. In this worldview, women must be controlled because female autonomy is disruptive to the male-dominated social structure.
3. Sexual Control is Social Control
In Taliban ideology, women's bodies are viewed as sources of temptation and chaos. By veiling women, restricting their movements, and denying them public space, the Taliban claim to “protect” moral order. But in reality, it’s about control: over desire, over family honor, and ultimately over society. It's an anxious obsession with maintaining authority through gender segregation.
4. Educated Women are Political Threats
Women who are literate, organized, and politically engaged—whether as teachers, journalists, activists, or lawmakers—pose a direct threat to Taliban rule. Educated women have historically led resistance movements in Afghanistan. They can rally communities, speak to the world, and expose abuse. Silencing them is a form of authoritarian self-preservation.
5. Female Empowerment Undermines Theocratic Legitimacy
The Taliban claim religious legitimacy by enforcing their interpretation of Sharia law. But Islam is not monolithic, and many Muslim scholars argue for women's education, rights, and public participation. Empowered women expose the Taliban’s distortion of Islam, revealing that their rule is about power, not piety. That delegitimization terrifies them.
6. Symbolic Control Over Women Projects Power
In regimes like the Taliban’s, the treatment of women is not just about belief—it’s performative. Enforcing harsh restrictions on women is a way of asserting dominance over society as a whole. It sends a message: We are in control. We dictate what is permissible. Even your private life is ours to govern.
In short, the Taliban fear women because empowered women challenge every pillar of their authority: ideological, political, religious, and social. It’s not the woman herself they fear—it’s what she represents: a future that does not need them.
1. Women Represent Social Change
Educated, visible, and empowered women are a sign of modernization and secularism—precisely the forces the Taliban want to crush. Women attending school, working, or speaking out in public contradict the Taliban’s fundamentalist vision of an Islamic society. They symbolize a liberal, pluralistic world order that threatens their rigid interpretation of Islam.
2. Female Autonomy Challenges Patriarchy
The Taliban’s ideology is built on a strict hierarchy, with men at the top. A woman who asserts her independence—by seeking education, working, or appearing in public without a male guardian—undermines that hierarchy. In this worldview, women must be controlled because female autonomy is disruptive to the male-dominated social structure.
3. Sexual Control is Social Control
In Taliban ideology, women's bodies are viewed as sources of temptation and chaos. By veiling women, restricting their movements, and denying them public space, the Taliban claim to “protect” moral order. But in reality, it’s about control: over desire, over family honor, and ultimately over society. It's an anxious obsession with maintaining authority through gender segregation.
4. Educated Women are Political Threats
Women who are literate, organized, and politically engaged—whether as teachers, journalists, activists, or lawmakers—pose a direct threat to Taliban rule. Educated women have historically led resistance movements in Afghanistan. They can rally communities, speak to the world, and expose abuse. Silencing them is a form of authoritarian self-preservation.
5. Female Empowerment Undermines Theocratic Legitimacy
The Taliban claim religious legitimacy by enforcing their interpretation of Sharia law. But Islam is not monolithic, and many Muslim scholars argue for women's education, rights, and public participation. Empowered women expose the Taliban’s distortion of Islam, revealing that their rule is about power, not piety. That delegitimization terrifies them.
6. Symbolic Control Over Women Projects Power
In regimes like the Taliban’s, the treatment of women is not just about belief—it’s performative. Enforcing harsh restrictions on women is a way of asserting dominance over society as a whole. It sends a message: We are in control. We dictate what is permissible. Even your private life is ours to govern.
In short, the Taliban fear women because empowered women challenge every pillar of their authority: ideological, political, religious, and social. It’s not the woman herself they fear—it’s what she represents: a future that does not need them.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@FrogManSometimesLooksBothWays Very well explained.
I think there are two further reasons.
Firstly, the Taliban "government" is a ruthless dictatorship basically run by one one shadowy cleric and his clique, that suppresses everyone and everything. Silencing half the population helps prevent dissent. There are many men who want their daughters educated and to have worthwhile careers, but would dare not speak out. Even becoming a female midwife, perhaps the last allowable profession, is now illegal. There are very brave, secret "schools" for girls but this is a very dangerous activity for the teachers.
Culturally, if such a word can be used of the Taliban, the central men are mainly Pashtun, which has always been a male-chauvinist society anyway.
They seem to have little knowledge of Islam, and act as if totally unaware that most Islamic theocracies, although they are male-superiority based dictatorships they do allow their women education and careers, if not political power. Their neighbour, Pakistan, even had a female president for a while- until she was murdered. Or they do know but choose to close their minds to the fact.
It appears some of the more courageous Afghan clerics have tried to question their leader's dictats, and other Islamic nations have criticised his stance; but generally he expects all politicians and ministers to swear and act allegiance to him.
The other reason I can only suspect, is balance of power. I do not know the proportions of men to women in Afghanistan, but are there many fewer men than women due to years of warfare?
If so it is safer for the Taliban to make the larger part of the population silent, invisible, riddled with rickets and at risk of dying in childbirth, and largely illiterate - so unable to defy their supreme ruler. Not Allah but one small-minded man based in Kandahar and hiding behind the Koran.
One can only wonder about, and fear for, women who have no male relatives as "guardians" so they can carry out basic tasks like shopping for food.
I think there are two further reasons.
Firstly, the Taliban "government" is a ruthless dictatorship basically run by one one shadowy cleric and his clique, that suppresses everyone and everything. Silencing half the population helps prevent dissent. There are many men who want their daughters educated and to have worthwhile careers, but would dare not speak out. Even becoming a female midwife, perhaps the last allowable profession, is now illegal. There are very brave, secret "schools" for girls but this is a very dangerous activity for the teachers.
Culturally, if such a word can be used of the Taliban, the central men are mainly Pashtun, which has always been a male-chauvinist society anyway.
They seem to have little knowledge of Islam, and act as if totally unaware that most Islamic theocracies, although they are male-superiority based dictatorships they do allow their women education and careers, if not political power. Their neighbour, Pakistan, even had a female president for a while- until she was murdered. Or they do know but choose to close their minds to the fact.
It appears some of the more courageous Afghan clerics have tried to question their leader's dictats, and other Islamic nations have criticised his stance; but generally he expects all politicians and ministers to swear and act allegiance to him.
The other reason I can only suspect, is balance of power. I do not know the proportions of men to women in Afghanistan, but are there many fewer men than women due to years of warfare?
If so it is safer for the Taliban to make the larger part of the population silent, invisible, riddled with rickets and at risk of dying in childbirth, and largely illiterate - so unable to defy their supreme ruler. Not Allah but one small-minded man based in Kandahar and hiding behind the Koran.
One can only wonder about, and fear for, women who have no male relatives as "guardians" so they can carry out basic tasks like shopping for food.
