From the Soviet invasion and Afghan civil war of the 1980s and early 1990s, to the Taliban regime until 2001, Afghan women were prevented from going to school and having an education. The Taliban banned all girls’ schools and learning centres. Women and girls were forbidden from going outside of their homes without accompaniment of a male relative. If girls were caught going to school, they would be severely punished by the Taliban, from flogging in public up to the death penalty. After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghan women and girls immediately wanted to go back to school and learn.
Since early 2001 to the present, Afghan women and girls have thrived once they had access to education. Significant changes have been made over the past decade. There are many privately owned colleges, including the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), however, getting an education highly remains highly challenging. The nationwide female literacy rate is 29.8% in comparison to 55.5% male literacy rate according to the CIA Factbook.
The Women Leaders of Tomorrow organization’s broad goal is to increase the number of educated women and girls in the Afghan population.
According to UNICEF Afghanistan “An estimated 3.7 million children are out-of-school in Afghanistan – 60% of them are girls.”
Sources: https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/education
Sources: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html