NEW YORK, Oct 22 (IPS) – When the Taliban recently has shut down the internet and telephone networks throughout Afghanistanmillions of women and girls were silenced. For those with connectivity, the blackout severed their last connection to the outside world – a fragile connection that had kept education, work and hope alive.
Many women in Afghanistan still do not have access to the internet, a basic telephone or the knowledge to use digital tools. For those who do, that connection is a rare lifeline to lifesaving services and the outside world.
For the time being, access has largely been restored. But the message was clear: in Afghanistan, this valuable gateway to education, expression and services for women and girls can be closed at any time.
Afghan women are already excluded from secondary and higher education, from most forms of work and from public spaces such as parks, gyms and sports clubs.
Many women are also receiving humanitarian aid, including in earthquake-hit eastern Afghanistan, and among those returning – many under duress – from Iran and Pakistan.
The digital and telephone blackout exacerbated feelings of stress, isolation and fear among women and girls.
Women entrepreneurs participate in business development training at a UN women-supported multi-purpose women’s center in Parwan province, eastern Afghanistan, in January 2025. Photo: UN Women/Ali Omid Taqdisyan
What happens when Afghan women and girls go offline?
In Afghanistan, the impact of internet and telephone outages hits women and girls more severely. It eliminates what for many is a last way to learn, make money and connect.
When women and girls lose internet access, they lose the ability to:
- • Access assistance: Those who are connected can use the internet or phones to find out what support is available, and aid agencies rely on connectivity to continue their activities.
• Learn about disasters: Recent data shows that 9 percent of women use the internet to access information about climate disasters.
• Find services and reporting mechanisms for survivors of gender-based violence or those at risk.
• Learning: Online classes and study groups were a lifeline for girls banished from high schools and women banished from universities.
• Work: Online businesses are an essential source of income for many women to support their families after being pushed out of many formal positions.
• Connect: Social apps and social media provided safe places to support each other and exchange information.
• Be visible: For women already excluded from public life, the digital world is one of the last places where they can exist and resist.
For more information about what life is like today for women in Afghanistan, see our Frequently asked questions.
Things are getting dark in the midst of humanitarian crises
The national internet blackout began a month after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan on August 31. Major aftershocks continued throughout September and emergency response and early recovery continued.
Despite facing many challenges, women-led organizations have played a crucial role in providing life-saving assistance and services to women and girls affected by the fallout from the crisis. earthquakeand Afghan women and girls returnees from neighboring countries Iran and Pakistan.
During the blackout, NGOs were forced to suspend humanitarian operations and suspend field missions to emergency locations. Staff were unable to process payments or place orders for essential goods intended for women and their families.
When banks went offline, women affected by humanitarian crises could not access emergency cash assistance to buy essentials such as food.
The closure also made it much more difficult for survivors of gender-based violence to access help, at a time when tensions were rising among households across the country and the risk of violence was escalating.
A UN Women team assessed earthquake damage in Nurgal, one of the hardest-hit districts in Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan.
Online livelihood disabled
In Afghanistan, waves of directives banning women from most jobs and restricting their movement without a male guardian have systematically driven them from public life.
For many women entrepreneurs, the Internet provides a rare space to work, build small businesses and sell their products – such as nuts, spices, crafts, clothing and works of art – to customers in Afghanistan and beyond.
“There is no room for us to work outside the home,” explains business owner Sama*from Parwan in eastern Afghanistan. “There is also no local market where we can exhibit and sell our products.”
With the support of UN Women, Sama built an online store sale of knitted bags, wallets and jewelry.
“I became known through my online store,” she says. “I earn money, solve my financial problems and become self-sufficient.”
When the blackout hit, women like Sama lost their only source of income overnight — a warning that for many Afghan women, connectivity is not a luxury, but a lifeline.
From blackout to global action
The internet outage in Afghanistan was a stark reminder that the digital world is not neutral. It can be a space of empowerment. It can also be an instrument of exclusion and isolation.
The stories of Afghan women remind us what is at stake: education, mental health, livelihoods and hope. When women are silenced online, they are further cut off from opportunities and from the world.
How UN Women supports women and girls in Afghanistan
Through its flagship program Reconstruction of the women’s movementwith which UN Women in Afghanistan collaborated 140 women-led organizations about 24 provinces and supported 743 female employees with salaries and training – increasing resilience even though public life is limited.
Read more about our work in Afghanistan.
*Name has been changed to protect her identity.
IPS UN Office
© Inter Press Service (20251022045411) — All rights reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service
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