“We refuse to be erased”: Zahra Joya on the women reporting under Taliban rule
As women in Afghanistan are stripped of their rights — banned from education, barred from public life and rendered invisible — a number of women journalists continue to report from inside the country. They do so anonymously, at great personal risk and often without knowing the identities of their colleagues.
In a session titled Breaking the Silence, hosted by Thomson at the International Journalism Festival 2025 in Perugia (Italy), Afghan journalist Zahra Joya spoke about the conditions women and girls face under Taliban rule and the quiet determination of her team at Rukhshana Media, a newsroom founded to tell the stories of Afghan women.
“Being a woman in Afghanistan is like being a second-class citizen, or worse,” said Zahra. “We are not allowed to go to school, to work, to travel alone. Women in Afghanistan are completely invisible.”
Being a woman in Afghanistan is like being a second-class citizen, or worse.
Nine women, no names
Rukhshana Media was created in 2020 in memory of a young woman stoned to death after fleeing a forced marriage. Now operating from exile in London, Zahra leads a team of nine women reporters who remain in Afghanistan, gathering testimonies and publishing under pseudonyms.
One recent story, published with The Guardian, exposed how a woman collecting her wages was forced into marriage after being seen alone with her employer. “From the Taliban’s perspective, when a man and woman are together, it is a crime — unless they marry,” Zahra said. “She is now the second wife of a man with a family.”
The toll is emotional as well as physical. “The rate of suicide attempts is so high, particularly among young women,” she said. “The Taliban have issued over 80 decrees banning women from every part of society.”
Disguised as a boy to get an education
Zahra spoke candidly about her own experience under the Taliban’s first regime. As a child, she posed as a boy — cutting her hair and taking the name Mohammed Joya — to attend school. “It gave me freedom,” she said. “I could play football. I could be part of conversations that girls weren’t allowed to hear.”
Now, she leads a team of women who do not know each other’s identities, operating in isolation to protect one another’s safety. “They are courageous, intelligent and brave,” Zahra said. “They know that if they give up now, who will work for the daughters of Afghanistan tomorrow?”
That bravery carries risk. “If discovered, they could be arrested, jailed, even murdered,” she told the audience.
Asked whether she foresees a time when Rukhshana Media may be forced to stop, Zahra admitted it was “a possibility”. “But what we are doing is more than journalism. It is a form of resistance,” she said.
She ended with a clear message to the international media: “Read our work. Share our stories. Invite us to the table. Use your platform. International silence empowers the Taliban. You have power — please use it for us.”
Watch the full session on demand here:
*All images in this article by Riccardo Urli
