The Women Journalists Defying Taliban Oppression

Increasing restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan is forcing women journalists take extraordinary risks to their own safety to tell their stories.

The work of the news agency Rukhshana Media is increasingly essential not only to inform the people of Afghanistan but also the Afghan diaspora and the international community.

Rukhshana publishes in both Persian/Dari and English and under pseudonyms to protect its journalists’ identities.

Its founder and editor in chief is journalist Zahra Joya now living in London after being forced to fleeing Afghanistan.

Thomson is working with her and her team offering management, logistical and operational support.

Zahra Joya (L) with Thomson's Chief Executive Caro Kriel.

A Lifelong Fight for Women’s Voices in Afghanistan

Zahra was born in 1992 when the Taliban were first in power and had to dress as a boy to attend school. In 2020 she founded Rukhshana Media, named after a young woman who was stoned to death by the Taliban, months before Afghanistan was taken over by the Taliban once again.

Despite the oppressive restrictions imposed on women and girls that mean they are barred from studying, working, speaking and praying in public, women journalists continue to work in secret and under constant threat. For protection, the women are unaware of the identities of their fellow journalists and Rukhshana increasingly relies on a network of contacts wanting to share and verify information.

“We are eternally grateful for ordinary people, people who are determined to get the information out,” says Zahra. “We trust them, they trust us.”

Rukshana Media was created to give voice and support to the women of Afghanistan and that mission is reflected in their editorial coverage. Recent reports include that of a woman cast out from two marriages for bearing daughters and how girls are forced to marry adult men as families grapple with poverty and tradition but there are also inspiring and positive stories like that of two sisters determined to educate Afghan girls.

Women are facing a dehumanising process in Afghanistan

Often Rukhshana’s stories and investigations are published in partnership with international news organisations including Time magazine, The Guardian and the Fuller Project.

For Zahra access to this international media stage is crucial.

“Women are facing a dehumanising process in Afghanistan,” she says. “The world is facing many challenges but we cannot, should not, ignore what is happening in Afghanistan.”

Being able to sustain the reporting in Afghanistan and with some of the journalists exiled to another country is a big challenge for the Rukhshana team but they have recently received a grant from the Malala Fund a charity founded by the Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzi. This will help sustain their journalism for the coming months.