The harsh realities of Afghan women – barred from education, employment and public life under Taliban rule – are depicted in the Paris exhibition "No Woman's Land", which reveals their struggles through powerful images and testimonies.
Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Kiana Hayeri and French researcher Mélissa Cornet travelled across Afghanistan, documenting the hardships endured by women and girls.
Supported by the Carmignac Foundation’s photojournalism awards, Hayeri and Cornet visited seven provinces in the north, east, and south of the country.
Between January and June 2024, the pair met over 100 Afghan women. They captured the stories of those banned from school, locked in their homes, as well as women journalists, members of the LGBTQI+ community and activists fighting for their rights.
"I've lived in Afghanistan for 10 years," Hayeri told RFI.
"Melissa has been living there for seven years. And through our personal contacts and network, we met with many women."
The exhibition’s design contrasts interior and exterior environments, emphasising the isolation many Afghan women face today.
Since September 2021, girls in Afghanistan have been restricted to schooling only up to sixth grade. There's also a ban on attending both high schools and universities.
Despite these prohibitions, underground schools – often held in private homes, mosques, or other alternative spaces – are still operating, offering girls a chance to continue their education, but at great personal risk.
“They cannot go to high school or university. They cannot work in most fields and can’t even go to gyms or parks anymore,” Cornet explained. “They cannot show their faces, choose how they dress, or even have their voices heard in public.”
Leaving Afghanistan
“We systematically asked women and girls: ‘Do you have hope that your situation can improve?’ And systematically, the answer was no,” said Cornet, noting that since October, women can no longer freely communicate with each other in public.
Most of the women they spoke with expressed a desire to leave Afghanistan, Cornet said.
“Almost all of the women we talked to are trying to find ways to leave Afghanistan.”
Gender apartheid
A section of "No Woman’s Land" is dedicated to "gender apartheid" – a term used by human rights activists to describe the Taliban's treatment of women, a practice that dates back to their first regime 25 years ago.
Late in 2023, a campaign called End Gender Apartheid urged the United Nations to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity.
“Gender apartheid is not merely a theoretical possibility or legal construct but a real threat and lived reality for millions of women and girls around the world – a reality that is currently not explicitly codified in international law,” UN experts wrote in support of the campaign.
► "No Woman's Land" runs until 18 November 2024 at the Réfectoire des Cordeliers in Paris. And until 18 December Port de Solférino, in front of the Musée d'Orsay.
