Skip to content
9/20/21: Women are successfully prohibited from the workplace.3/24/22: Schools are shut for girls above sixth grade.5/7/22: Women are mandated to cover themselves from head to toe.1/12/23: Male doctors are no longer allowed to treat female patients.1/16/23: Travel agencies are banned from selling tickets to women in the absence of a mahram (male chaperone).3/6/23: Higher education institutions are to admit no women - only male students - for the approaching academic year.4/14/23: Women are banned from protesting.5/11/23: The media is instructed to not produce content regarding hygiene issues of women.
UNCSW Background Guide
Agenda: Identifying and combatting gender apartheid and the systemic segregation of women
Chairperson’s Letter:
Dear Delegates,
Welcome! My name is Sarah, and I’ll be your chair for the UNCSW committee of the 2025 Schoolhouse Model United Nations. I’m so excited to spend this upcoming weekend with you all as you engage in this pressing topic.
Before I go into the details of our agenda, I’d first like to introduce myself a bit. I’m a senior in high school, and I love hi-chews, music, figure skating, fashion, math, and the environment! I’ve been involved in Model United Nations since freshman year. For my first two MUNs, I was a general assembly delegate, writing resolutions to increase accessibility to clean water in Kenya and to decrease maternal mortality rates in Sierra Leone. For my third year, I served as an Associate Justice in the International Court of Justice, and will be serving in the same role again this year! Schoolhouse-wise, I co-chaired the UNSC committee of the 2024 Schoolhouse Fall Model United Nations, so I’m excited to chair for Schoolhouse MUN once again!
Now, on to an introduction of this committee and its agenda. The UNCSW, or United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, is the principal international body dedicated solely to the promotion of gender equality and the rights of women and their empowerment. Established on 21 June 1946 by the Economic and Social Council, It has played a leading role in establishing a gender perspective in the activities of the United Nations.
Gender-based discrimination is an issue that has long been prevalent in society, but in some places, it’s to a much more extreme level, to the point at which it is actively enforced by the government. From this context arose the term gender apartheid, which refers to gender-based economic and social discrimination enforced through physical and legal practices. In this committee, we will be identifying countries across the world in which gender apartheid is enforced and formulating actionable solutions to counter this pressing issue.
Delegates, over these coming days, I urge to harness your creative thinking and problem solving, to fully immerse yourselves in the issues at hand. The solutions that you devise have the potential to be life-changing for the women who continue to suffer under gender apartheid, and have the potential to set important precedents for the matter at hand. As you engage in fruitful research and thoughtful debate, I urge you, too, to maintain an open mind, to listen attentively even when you disagree on certain topics. In a world that is becoming increasingly polarized, it is more important than ever to continue to be willing to consider different ideas and perspectives.
I look forward to hearing your dynamic discussions and wish you all a fulfilling MUN!
Sarah W.
UNCSW Chair
Background Guide:
What is gender apartheid?
As defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, apartheid is “inhumane acts…committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime”. (1)
In the wake of the actions of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Afghan women’s rights defenders began to refer to the discrimination inflicted by the Taliban upon women as gender apartheid, arguing that what was occurring was exactly apartheid, except gender-based rather than race-based. Hence, the End Gender Apartheid Campaign defines gender apartheid as “inhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over another gender group or groups, and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime”. (2)
Where this is occurring
Just like how apartheid is only applicable to describe the most extreme forms of racial discrimination, the threshold for issues qualifying as gender apartheid is high, and only the most egregious acts of gender-based discrimination constitute gender apartheid. As a result, whether or not gender apartheid is occurring in certain countries can sometimes be a point of contention. However, the main countries where gender apartheid is purportedly taking place are Afghanistan and Iran.
Gender apartheid in Afghanistan
As determined by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, “the pattern of large-scale systematic violations of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights in Afghanistan, abetted by the Taliban’s discriminatory and misogynist policies and harsh enforcement methods, [constitute] gender persecution and an institutionalized framework of gender apartheid.” (3)
Ten days after the Taliban took over Afghanistan once again in 2021, their first directive was issued: women and girls in Kabul were instructed to remain indoor on the grounds that their safety was not guaranteed outside. Since then, over eighty decrees have been promulgated by the Taliban, and two decades of progress that Afghan women and girls had made have been thoroughly dismantled. (4)
Notable decrees include:
Gender apartheid in Iran
“The oppression of women in Iran is not just discrimination—it is a deliberately designed, institutionalized system of domination intended to enforce the subjugation of women to maintain the state’s grip on power. This state-sanctioned systematic subjugation amounts to nothing less than gender apartheid,” said the Center for Human Rights in Iran director of communications, Bahar Ghandehari. (5)
In Iran, women face similar forms of oppression to those in Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic has, for more than four decades, restricted their rights in a multitude of domains, reducing them to second-class citizens for the sake of firmly establishing the government’s power.
Restrictions of appearance: Once girls reach the age of seven, they start becoming required to adhere to the mandatory dress code for women, although it becomes a legal requirement when they reach the age of nine. This dress code entails women and girls concealing their hair and bodies, except for their faces, hands, and feet. If the dress code is violated, severe punishments like imprisonment, fines, and flogging can be faced.
Constraints on autonomy: Women and girls are restricted under a male guardianship system for their whole lives. Until they are married, they stay under their father or a different male relative’s legal authority. Once they are married, their husband takes on a similar level of authority over them. Furthermore, in order to travel abroad, unmarried women older than 17 need the consent of their male guardian, and in order to get, renew, and utilize a passport, married women need the consent of their husband.
These are only some of the issues that Iranian women face in their everyday lives, and they also face inequality in family matters, barriers in employment, discriminatory criminal law, unequal sports participation, and so much more.
Effects of gender apartheid
The effects of gender apartheid have been devastating, not only severely limiting women in every aspect of their lives but also having even farther-reaching consequences.
In Afghanistan and Iran, the maltreatment and blatant denial of rights that women face has resulted in a dire mental health crisis. In Iran, 25% of women are afflicted with mental health disorders (6), and in Afghanistan, female suicide rates far exceed those of men, an anomaly in a world where the opposite is typically true. According to the World Health Organization, twice as many men commit suicide as women worldwide. (7) However, in Afghanistan, four times as many women attempt to commit suicide as men; female suicide attempts make up 80% of the total number of suicide attempts in Afghanistan. (8) A tragic example of gender apartheid resulting in suicide is the story of Sahar Khodayari, who set herself on fire outside of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court after being sentenced to prison for trying to set foot into a stadium to watch her favorite team play. (6)
Furthermore, in Afghanistan, because women - and therefore almost half the population - are barred from most jobs, families are struggling more than ever; 14.8 million Afghans are experiencing crisis hunger levels. (9) Around one fifth of Afghan households are headed by women, and the hardships that they face are heightened by the Taliban’s movement restrictions. (4) Women are not allowed to travel unaccompanied by a male guardian to aid distribution sites, and as a result, countless families being cut off from support that they desperately need.
Another urgent issue resulting from gender apartheid in Afghanistan is a lack of access to healthcare. The Taliban has prohibited male doctors from treating Afghan women. However, women have been banned from obtaining official medical training, and many restrictions are in place for those trying to work in the healthcare sector. (10) As a result, there is a severe shortage of female doctors available for Afghan women to seek medical treatment from.
Efforts to counter gender apartheid
A call has been made to codify gender apartheid as an international crime (2, 11), which has become a subject of contention at times. While it has faced criticisms grounded in its parallels to gender persecution, its legal backing, and how its codification would be enforced, it has also received support from U.N. experts and human rights leaders. Proponents of codifying gender apartheid, such as Amnesty International and the End Gender Apartheid Campaign, argue that doing so would provide a way to hold perpetrators accountable and facilitate legal and policy responses.
Many humanitarian efforts have been made to mitigate gender apartheid’s effects, too, by organizations like UN Women, which has partnered with over 200 women’s organizations in Afghanistan to strengthen the leadership and influence of Afghan women. (12)
QARMA: Questions a Resolution May Answer
What role should the UN take in combatting gender apartheid and protecting women’s rights worldwide?
When is gender apartheid applicable to describe a regime?
Where is the line between enforcing laws based on religion and infringing on the rights of women?
How can inspiration be drawn from the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa for the fight against gender apartheid?
How can equal rights be restored to women in places where a severe imbalance in women’s rights has long been the norm?
What should be done to ensure that the experiences of women under gender apartheid are truly taken into consideration in solutions to gender apartheid?
References and Resources
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ··· in the right corner or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.