Bringing Attention to Afghan Women’s Mental Health for International Women’s Day

Since August 2021, the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan have been systematically stripped away; in effect causing their disappearance from public life. This is gender apartheid, and it’s happening right before our eyes.  

For International Women’s Day this year, we want to highlight the unique mental health challenges faced by Afghan women and girls.

Women across the country have increasingly reported feelings of stress, fear, anxiety, isolation, insomnia, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation over the last two and a half years.

• 82% of Afghan women report worsening feelings of anxiety, isolation, and depression over the last 12 months

• Afghan women’s self-reported influence in household decision-making has fallen from 90% to just 32% over the last 12 months

• 57% of Afghan women do not feel safe leaving their homes

To support Afghan women and girls, we have partnered with AMALY to develop a culturally and religiously conscious mental health counseling project. The program is run by extensively trained female psychosocial counselors. Our goal is to build a mental health infrastructure within Afghanistan so women and girls have a safe environment within which they can speak freely, be heard, and process trauma. This is especially important now amidst all of the restrictions they face. 

Psychosocial education and support can be the key to enriching and empowering the minds of women who feel hopeless in the current social and political climate. Approaching mental health issues from a feminist Islamic perspective provides women with the opportunity to separate religion from oppression.

We’re committed, alongside our partner AMALY, to doing everything we can to support the mental well-being of women and girls.