“Who will look after the mothers? Who will save the new-borns?”
Bans on female medical education together with restrictions on women being treated by male doctors violate rights to education and health. © Sandra Calligaro
The Taliban’s ban on the education of women and girls includes women from training as medical and allied health professionals
In addition to the impact on female medical students, the ban is exacerbating the impact of staff medical and nursing shortages.
On the fourth anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, we spoke to a former female medical student who has been banned from attending university.
In September 2021, the Taliban stopped girls from attending secondary school beyond sixth grade. In December 2022, they banned girls and women from attending higher education.
In December of 2024 the Taliban closed one of the last remaining loopholes in their ban on education for older girls and women by forbidding them from attending institutions offering medical education.
Having also banned women in some provinces from being treated by male medical professionals, the prohibition on medical education for women will result in unnecessary pain, misery, sickness, and death for the women forced to go without health care, as there won’t be female healthcare workers to treat them.
We spoke to Fazia*, a nursing student who was required to abandon her studies due to the ban on female students in higher education institutions, about the impact of the bans on her and on the health and welfare of Afghanistan’s women.
When you found out that other medical education centers, like nursing and midwifery, are no longer allowed to teach girls, how did you feel?
“I felt like someone was choking the future out of me. It was as if all my dreams—built with so much effort and pain—were suddenly buried under rubble. My heart broke, not just for myself, but for the thousands of girls who wanted to serve, to heal, to save lives. You feel suffocated when people know you have the ability, but just because you’re a girl, you’re not allowed to grow.
Why did you choose this field? What dreams did you have for the future?
“I have always wanted to help mothers in remote areas of Afghanistan who lack even basic access to a clinic. I wanted to become a midwife, with warm and reliable hands present at the moment a life is born. I dreamed that when a woman screams in pain, another woman would be there beside her to understand, to help, to save. I wanted to be part of saving lives.
What do you think are the consequences of this ban for Afghanistan’s healthcare system and the mortality of women and children?
“This decision doesn’t just destroy the future of girls—it destroys the future of Afghanistan. When women are prohibited from studying, especially in essential fields like midwifery and nursing, who will care for the mothers? Who will save the newborns? Maternal and child mortality rates will rise because in many places, only a woman can help another woman. This ban is like cutting the roots of a tree that was meant to give shade.
If world leaders could hear your voice, what would you say to them?
“I would tell them: We only want education, not guns—just books, not war. If you stay silent today, tomorrow the cries of children and the deaths of mothers in Afghanistan won’t let you sleep. We are not asking you for miracles—just to stand for justice. We Afghan girls deserve a chance. Hear our voices before they silence us.”
* The names of interviewees from Afghanistan have been changed to protect their identities.
