António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said on International Women’s Day that women around the world enjoy only 64 percent of the legal rights granted to men. Speaking on Sunday, he said that when women and men are not equal before the law, true justice cannot be achieved. He stressed the need to challenge discriminatory laws and practices to ensure justice, dignity, opportunity, and freedom for women and girls in all countries. Meanwhile, women in Afghanistan have faced some of the world’s harshest social, economic, and political restrictions for more than four years. Since the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, girls and women have been barred from education and excluded from many jobs as well as economic and political activities. These restrictions have effectively made Afghanistan one of the most difficult places in the world for women.
