Swedish Foreign Minister: Afghan Women Once Led the Fight for Equality
Bareen Media – Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergård has highlighted the history of Afghan women’s struggle for equality, saying Afghan women gained the right to vote around the same period as women in Sweden.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Stenergard said the contrast between women’s freedoms in Afghanistan and Sweden more than a century later is both striking and deeply concerning.
She described the situation as a reminder that progress on women’s rights cannot be taken for granted.
“Rights that have once been achieved can be lost,” Stenergard said, stressing the need to protect progress on gender equality.
Today, the rights and freedoms available to women in Afghanistan and Sweden are sharply different. UN reporting has documented restrictions imposed on Afghan women and girls that affect their access to education, employment and participation in public life.
Stenergard’s remarks highlighted the dramatic reversal in Afghanistan, where women who once participated in public and political life now face extensive restrictions under Taliban rule.
