Empowerment For Her

01/03/2026

—- Taliban allows men to beat their wives as long as they don’t leave open wounds, black and blue wounds or broken bones —-

In the new penalty code which recently came in to force in Afghanistan - men are allowed to beat their wives, as long as they don’t leave open wounds, black or blue wounds or broken bones. In case they leaves these wounds or broken bones, they will get 15 days in prison. 15 days.

To put this into perspective, even the punishment for animal abuse is harsher than this. The decree states that “anyone who forces animals like dogs or cockerels to fight should be sentenced to five months in prison.” (Krever & Yeung)

Since women in Afghanistan are not allowed to leave their home without a male guardian, the new law prevent women from seeking justice even in the case of severe physical violence an activist says - as the women would have to get out of the house to seek justice, accompanied by their abuser, which seems very unlikely.

Read the full story through the link below:
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/01/asia/taliban-afghanistan-domestic-violence-legal

Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have issued a draconian decree that makes so**my punishable by death and allows men to beat their wives so long as they don’t break bones or leave visible, lasting wounds.

23/02/2026

Meet the team behind Empowerment For Her!✨️

This photo was taken back in January, when almost the whole team of EFH met, to talk about the acheivements of 2025, and the plan for 2026.

Introducing the team (from left to right):

- Tahmina Salik - Director of Empowerment for Her

- Elaha Salik - Board Member

- Wafida Faizi - Our Newest Board Member

- Zohrey Faizi - Board Member

- Olivia Rich Møller Simonsen - Content Creator & Social Media Manager

10/02/2026

—- Hazara women helping to build a road for their community —-

The community which Mahrok lives in, in the remote central highlands of Afghanistan, risks being unable to access the city during the winter, because of great amounts of snow on the road. This means that the community cannot get acces to crucial medical services, trade and other essentials in the city during this time.

Now, the community has taken matters into their own hands and decided to build a proper road to the city. And Afghan women are a part of this.

Marokh, who is 54 years old woman, has been working alongside men for a month to build this road. Residents of the community has said that for the project of building a road to Kabul, around one third of the 300 workers were women.

Additionally, Taqi Rahimi, a 52 year old from the village of Chochan, has said that “women have played a more significant role than men, preparing food and tea for the workers as well as wielding shovels themselves” (Taban).

Read the full story through the link below:

https://rukhshana.com/en/digging-for-development-how-hazara-women-are-helping-to-build-a-road-for-their-community/

Every winter, they risk being cut off by deep snow and unable to access the city for crucial medical services, trade and other essentials.

01/02/2026

— How Afghan women are penalized by the new criminal code —-

This week Rukhshana media has written about how Afghan women are affected by the new criminal code, which has recently been launched by the Taliban.

Some of the new punishments in the code includes that “A women who visits her family without her husbands permission can be sent to prison. A husband who beats his wife severely could get off with just a 15-day sentence, while a women who leaves Islam could be jailed for life and flogged every three days.”

According to Rukshana media, women in Afghanistan are disproportionately affected by this code - their beliefs, movement, family decisions and relationships are being scrutinized legally - and at the same time, their protection from violence is limited, while their behaviour is strongly regulated.

Read more about the story through the link below:

https://rukhshana.com/en/how-the-talibans-new-criminal-code-penalises-women/

These are among the punishments laid out in a new criminal code that has been officially adopted by the Taliban – the de-facto authorities in Afghanistan.

28/01/2026

The Taliban has released a new Criminal Procedure Code.

Read more about the case through the link below:

https://thediplomat.com/2026/01/taliban-introduce-new-criminal-code-in-afghanistan/

27/01/2026

Last weeks :

—- Female taekwondo teacher released from Taliban prison —-

Khadija Ahmadzada was reportedly running a taekwondo gym for girls in Afghanistan, and recently she was detained by the Taliban for being in “violation” of rules “regarding women’s sports gyms”. She was then also accused of not wearing a proper hijab, playing music and allowing genders to mix in her gym.

Ultimately she ended up spending 13 days in a Taliban prison because of this - but now she has been released!

The news of Ahmadzada’s arrest led to strong negative reactions on social media, and the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, posted online to call for her immediate release.

Read more about the story through the link below:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1evv6dz3e9o

Khadija Ahmadzada was detained for being in "violation" of rules "regarding women's sports gyms", a Taliban spokesman said.

20/01/2026

Story of a women's rights activist in a Taliban prison.

18/01/2026

—- The risk of malnutrition in Afghanistan —-

The director for Afghanistan at the World Food Programme (WFP) John Aylieff has spoken to APF about the “heartbreaking” struggle to feed families in Afghanistan.

John Aylieff said that “In the next 12 months, five million women and children in this country will experience acute malnutrition, the life-threatening type of malnutrition,”.

This situation has come to this devastating point, since “funding to Afghanistan has been cut and cut further and cut further,” as Aylieff says.
Aylieff even said that “In areas where we’ve stopped assisting as WFP, we’re seeing girls being sold off to early marriage just so their families can put food on the table. We’re seeing children being pulled out of school and sent to work.”

Read more about the story through the link below:

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260116-malnutrition-having-harrowing-impact-on-afghan-women-wfp

A worsening malnutrition crisis is having dire effects on women and girls in Afghanistan who are failed by the international community, the World Food Programme's top official in the country told AFP.

09/01/2026

—- Collapse of Afghanistan’s maternal health services —

When Medina’s sister went into labour, she was brought to a provincial hospital where she was told she needed a caesarean section - however, no specialist at the hospital was able to carry it out. She was therefor forced to drive another 90 minuts to a private hospital, but by then it was too late; her baby was dead, and the doctors said that if they had arrived any later, she could have died too.

This is sadly not a rare story in Afghanistan - especially not in mountainous rural areas - and this has only become worse as Taliban gained power.

Talibans restrictions on women’s education, employment and mobility combined with declining health budgets in Afghanistan as a result of withdrawal of international aid, has worsened the situation of maternal health.

A source, who works in the Sar-e Pol’s health sector said that authorities were trying to cover up the maternal death numbers, saying that“Even in morning reporting meetings, they say nothing about how many babies or mothers have died, because it would damage the hospital’s reputation”.

Read the full story through the link below:
https://rukhshana.com/en/afghanistans-maternal-health-services-are-collapsing-heres-how-one-rural-province-is-being-affected/

When Medina’s sister went into labour in November, her family took her to the main provincial hospital in Sar-e Pol.

07/12/2025

— Consequences of forced marriage on Afghan girls —-

This week The Rights Monitor Media, brings the story of how two young Afghan girls took their own life, after they had been subjected to forced marriage, experienced domestic violence and lost their access to education as well as social protections.

Tahmina, an 18 year old Afghan girl lost her life to su***de, after she had been pulled out of school and, without her consent, married off to a cousin. This forced marriage was what started her psychological decline. She expressed several times, that she was not happy with the marriage - however, her father dismissed her objections.

Her brother Eisa, 33, said that she had become more withdrawn since she got married, and that she showed signs of severe depression.

As things did not improve, ultimately Tahmina ended up taking her own life, by setting herself on fire. Similarly, Maryam, a 16 year old Afghan girl, also took her own life, after she had been forcibly married to a significantly older man, who was already married and addicted to drugs.

Read the full story through the link below:

https://thermmedia.com/silent-crisis-the-toll-of-forced-marriage-on-afghan-girls

While this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign focuses on gender-based violence online, the reality for women and girls in Afghanistan extends far beyond the internet. Since the Taliban regained power, violence and restrictions against women have risen to unprecedented levels. 

23/11/2025

—- Lamp workshop providing skills and livelihoods for Afghan women —-

After a small domestic crisis, where the lights in her house went out when her husband was not home, Setara* gained skills from her husband who is an electrician over the phone to fix the problem herself.

From this night she knew that she wanted to work within this field. She now has her own lamp business, where she offers workshops for Afghan women and girls to learn how to create these lamps. She is currently training at least 10 young women to assemble prefabricated components. These young women lean techniques like using screw-fastening tools, welding and soldering at the workshop.

After the women have completed the workshop, they can start working in Setara’s business. Her team can produce at least 200 types of home as well as outdoor lamps.

One of the workshop-students said that “Staying at home for so long made me depressed … This work is both engaging and educational. It’s helped me recover.”

Read the full story through the link below:

https://rukhshana.com/en/how-a-small-workshop-is-providing-light-and-livelihoods-in-afghanistan/

I was terrified, but I managed to do it, and from that moment, I knew I wanted to work in this field,” she says.