A massive earthquake this week that killed more than 1,400 people in Afghanistan has left women, already struggling under the strict rules of the Taliban-led government, vulnerable because of a lack of support.
The 6.0 magnitude quake has devastated the eastern part of the country near the border with Pakistan, injuring thousands in a remote area difficult for rescue workers and care givers to reach.
Experts warn that women and girls will be among those most affected by the disaster and "bear the brunt" of it as they face cultural and legislated impediments to accessing hospital care and other restrictions on support.
Women are banned by the Taliban from being treated by male doctors.
But since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous additional bans on women, including a December 2024 measure that forbids women from pursuing medical education or taking final medical training exams.
Given that there are almost no female doctors in the region, let alone the country, many women will fail to receive medical care quickly enough, according to Abdul Qayum Raheem, an Afghan doctor.
"Earthquakes are a matter of minutes and seconds, delay in escaping can cause more casualties to women," Raheem told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi.
"People in villages know that there are not enough female staff in the hospital and cannot dare to take their wounded women and girls to health facilities. The families are trying to treat the minor wounded women locally, instead of taking them to hospital.”
A spokesman for the Taliban government’s Ministry of Public Health did not respond to questions from Radio Azadi over reports that women were not receiving adequate health care amid signs from the affected area that appear to bear out such fears.
Although most of the more than 3,000 casualties reported so far have been women and children, the head of the hospital in Kunar Province said that only 13 women are currently hospitalized there, while the number of hospitalized men is 67.
One man told Radio Azadi that his pregnant wife suffered a miscarriage after failing to get proper medical treatment following the earthquake.
"When the earthquake hit, she was giving birth and it was going very badly," he said.
"She is now in a government hospital, but she has not recovered and is in the same condition as before. This is because there are no female doctors and no medicine."
According to a female doctor in Kabul who spoke recently to Radio Azadi, remote areas often only have community midwives or nurses. In some areas there is neither.
Nilofar Ayoubi, a human rights activist from Afghanistan, told RFE/RL the aftermath of the earthquake is growing increasingly alarming, especially for women and children.
“This dire shortage has forced many families to transport their injured women and girls to Jalalabad city, the nearest urban center," said Ayoubi, who fled to Poland after Taliban returned to power.
"However, hospitals in Jalalabad are themselves overwhelmed, struggling with the same lack of essential supplies and a severe shortage of female medical staff.”
This was Afghanistan's third major deadly earthquake since the Taliban returned to power.
In June 2022, a powerful earthquake shook Paktia, Paktika, and Khost provinces According to the assessment carried out by the International Rescue Committee in Khost at the time, women and girls were most affected by the earthquake.
A year later in Herat Province, some 1,500 people were killed in an earthquake with women and girls comprising the majority of the death toll, according to UNICEF.
UN Women Afghanistan said on September 2 it fears the response -- from urgent medical assistance and care to safe shelter and protection -- to this week's earthquake will again fail to prioritize women.
“Women and girls will again bear the brunt of this disaster, so we must ensure their needs are at the heart of the response and recovery,” UN Women Afghanistan Special Representative Susan Ferguson said.
“This includes supporting the vital work of women humanitarians – otherwise women and girls could miss out on lifesaving assistance or information in the days ahead.”
