Marginalized Islamic Feminism for Taliban-Approved Policies: Peacekeeping and its Contradictions in Afghanistan

Abstract

The following thesis tackles Afghan women's safe access to the public sphere in general and dignified employment in particular after the Taliban's insurgency. Using frameworks of Islamic feminism to challenge the Taliban's dominance over Islamic jurisprudence and, therefore, women's rights highlights the need to consider frameworks that act upon the local context- even if shouldered by international actors such as the UN. While stressing that the primary focus should be on local feminist activism and frameworks, the thesis also highlights the realistic need for international involvement- specifically in the form of the UN peacekeeping mission to secure the Taliban's accountability.

The existing academic production on Afghan women from the West is often entangled with a narrative that supports the war on terror, and I aim to challenge it. While many publications managed to highlight the struggles of Afghan women, few actively engage with policy proposals to advocate for effective change. This thesis aims to take the existing knowledge and realities on the following issues- Afghan women's rights through the diverse historical periods, Islamic feminism as a policy tool, gender and peacekeeping and Afghan women's access to the public sphere in order to produce policy recommendations. While international actors caused incredible damage to Afghanistan and Afghan women in the name of "security", the final policy recommendations focus on the possibilities of UN peacekeeping while stressing its significant shortcomings and the specific ways in which Islamic feminism could be used as an advocacy and policy tool for fighting for women's rights within the local frameworks, which also actively challenges the lazy western excuse of cultural relativism. The findings indicate that while the struggle for women's rights under the Taliban is incredibly challenging and strategies need to be reassessed regularly based on recent developments, it is not impossible.