What is the gender policy of the Taliban and ISIS?
By Dr. Mawlawi Burhanuddin Mohammadi
One of the most notable commonalities between the Taliban and ISIS is their instrumental, derogatory, and hostile attitude towards women. In both schools of thought, women are not defined as independent human beings, but as objects of honor, extremist production machines, or sources of fitna. This view has not only significantly limited women's rights, but has also played a major role in shaping the policies, recruitment, and even the dissemination of ISIS and Taliban ideology.
The Taliban and Women: Reproducing the Tribal Patriarchal Structure
First, the Taliban's policy is to exclude women from the public sphere:
In the early days of the Taliban's rule (1996-2001), women were denied education, employment, or even the ability to go out without a "mahram." With the return of the Taliban in 2021, history repeated itself: girls' schools were closed, women were excluded from media, ministries, and even markets, they were not allowed to go out without a mahram, and they were kept in the worst conditions.
Secondly, there is the compulsory hijab and gender segregation:
The Taliban have made wearing a burqa, or black veil, compulsory, and failure to do so is punishable by physical punishment and imprisonment. Women's presence in public circles was systematically limited and excluded. Universities, parks, baths, and even women's travel are strictly controlled.
Thirdly, women are defined within the family:
The Taliban accepts women only as wives, mothers, or mahrams. Their personal, professional, and civil rights are not recognized. Forced marriages, in particular with the Taliban, remain common, especially in war-torn areas.
ISIS and Women: From Propaganda Tools to Sexual Slavery
First, the use of women as propaganda tools for the caliphate:
During the ISIS caliphate, women were presented as the mothers of the mujahideen. Women were forbidden from participating in jihad, but they were considered a reward for the mujahideen.
ISIS created special propaganda groups for women in cyberspace, the purpose of which was to recruit women from Western and Islamic countries to marry militants.
Second, sexual slavery and the ISIS slave market:
After capturing Yazidi towns in Iraq, ISIS militants turned thousands of Yazidi women and girls into sexual slaves, and the women were sold as commodities in the markets of Mosul and Raqqa. Pricing was based on age, beauty, and virginity. This act was legitimized by an official ISIS fatwa as war booty permitted by Allah.
Thirdly, the female police system (al-Hasba):
ISIS formed a female police unit called al-Khansaa, whose job it was to police women's clothing and behavior. These police officers punish other women for wearing makeup, laughing loudly, or interacting with indecent men.
Comparison of Taliban and ISIS Gender Policies
In terms of gender policies, both the Taliban and ISIS have very restrictive and discriminatory views towards women.
Forced marriages were common in both groups, but in ISIS, women, especially non-Muslim women, were also used as sex slaves. Sexual slavery in ISIS is not only common, but it is also organized, formalized, and justified by religious edicts. While in the case of the Taliban, they resort to sexual slavery in a different form, as well as remarriage.
The impact of these policies on society and the ideological narrative of both groups views women as a danger and an incitement. For this reason, they try to exclude them from society or imprison them at home. This attitude has led to the destruction of women's human resources, an increase in domestic violence, and the spread of cultural and economic poverty.
Meanwhile, women who resisted these systems were tortured, threatened, and killed.
Both the Taliban and ISIS, with their extremist and politicized interpretations of religion, have used women as tools in their extremist religious projects. By excluding women from the public sphere, they are trying to create a patriarchal, closed, and ideologically subordinate society.
