The recent reports that the Taliban has formalised domestic violence as permissible so long as it does not result in “broken bones” represent a shocking and dangerous regression in global efforts to eliminate gender-based violence and protect women’s safety. This is not merely the absence of legal protection. It is the legalisation of abuse.
“This penal framework has been shaped by a leadership whose primary instrument of control and governance is violence, and whose policies systematically dismantle women’s education, livelihoods, mobility, and autonomy unless women accept subjugation,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India. “Women are stripped of freedom to learn, to work, to appear in public life independently, and then told they may seek justice only under conditions that are structurally stacked against them. A woman may approach a court only with a male guardian, required to display her wounds, covered in a burka, to prove the extent of harm. It is akin to saying: shackle the slave, but grant her the “freedom” to seek justice within the very system that shackles her. This cannot be accepted by a civilised world.”
Such legal positioning does not stand alone. It reflects a wider global climate in which violence against women is increasingly minimised, rationalised, or shielded by powerful systems. Around the world, we are witnessing troubling signals: institutional failures to hold influential perpetrators accountable, legal backsliding on women’s bodily autonomy, and public narratives that frame violence as a “private matter.” When systems protect abusers, delay justice, or dilute accountability, they send a chilling message: women’s safety and bodies are negotiable.
At the same time, in many parts of the world, women are being called upon to bear more children in the name of demographic anxiety or national identity. Women’s bodies are alternately controlled through coercion or mobilised for reproduction, rarely centred as autonomous decision-makers. Whether it’s fears on population collapse or population explosion, women’s rights become the first casualty.
Globally, nearly one in three women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, according to the World Health Organization.
“We seem to take two steps forward on women’s rights and one and a half steps backward,” said Muttreja. “When violence is legally diluted, socially rationalised, or shielded by powerful institutions, it creates a dangerous global precedent. Violence is not defined by broken bones. It is defined by a broken moral and ethical compass.”
Legal frameworks that attempt to classify “acceptable” harm reinforce a culture of silence that already exists in many societies, including India. Survivors often do not report abuse due to stigma, economic dependence, fear, and social pressure. When laws or powerful actors appear to legitimise harm and even heinous crimes, the silence deepens.
“It is horrifying for victims to live in a world where their pain is debated, minimised, or politicised,” Muttreja added. “Health is never just about biology. It is about power. It is about politics. And it is about whose lives are taken seriously. Gender-based violence is not only a cultural issue, it is a public health crisis and a human rights violation.”
The global discourse has also revealed how even in advanced democracies, powerful men have evaded accountability for exploitation and abuse, exposing how entrenched patriarchy continues to tilt systems against women. These patterns embolden regressive regimes and weaken global moral authority.
“Men especially need to step up and challenge the culture that normalises control over women,” Muttreja said. “The world will change when men change.”
Population Foundation of India believes this moment requires more than expressions of concern. The global community—governments, multilateral institutions, and international bodies—must move beyond condemnation and consider firm, coordinated responses. When states institutionalise violence, there must be consequences.
This is not merely about Afghanistan, which represents the worst-case scenario. It is about the direction of global norms.
Population Foundation of India reiterates that any attempt to redefine violence as tolerable under specific conditions is a direct assault on women’s dignity and autonomy.
The world cannot afford such normalisation of abuse. Every woman, everywhere, has the right to safety, dignity, livelihood, education, and freedom, without conditions, without guardianship, and without fear.
