“Iran is No Utopia”: Afghan Women Refugees Face New Struggles in Iran

Nearly two years ago, Asma*, a 29-year-old women’s rights activist, left Afghanistan with tears in her eyes, without legal documents, and separated from her family. She was heading to Iran, not for freedom, but to stay alive. Little did she know that her new life in Iran would introduce her to a thousand new pains.

Today, Iran hosts one of the largest Afghan refugee populations globally. The country has approximately 3.4 million refugees from Afghanistan. A significant number of these refugees, around one million, arrived after the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

However, life in Iran presents its own set of challenges, especially for Afghan women. These women face legal and social discrimination, limited access to employment and education, and constant fear of deportation. 

“I remember very well the days when I had to come to Iran as a smuggler. They were the hardest days of my life,” Asma told More to Her Story. “I was afraid that the Taliban would arrest us. I didn’t stop crying even for a minute until I arrived in Iran. I had to walk the streets of Tehran for several nights with no place to stay,”

With a bachelor’s degree in Law and previous involvement in organizations supporting women’s rights and press freedom, Asma lived in hiding for nearly two months after the Taliban’s arrival, with no way out of the country. Eventually, with the help of a friend and a hefty payment to a smuggler, she escaped to Iran. The journey took two grueling days and nights, during which her primary fear was being arrested by the Taliban. Asma had received multiple threats from the Taliban due to her civil activities.

“I paid a lot of money to the smuggler to take me across the border, coordinated with Iranian soldiers. I was more afraid of the Taliban, who might shoot me at any moment,” Asma recounts. “We had to walk for several hours over two days. This journey was particularly difficult because I had nothing with me. We live in a traditional society, and those patriarchal views often follow women. The road and loneliness were incredibly stressful and exhausting.”

She wandered aimlessly by bus without a destination. Finally, Asma arrived in Tehran, Iran’s capital, but her fear didn’t end there. She felt like she was being abandoned in a desert. Asma would ride city buses to their final stops, only to board another bus and repeat the cycle. Passengers’ stares made her feel conspicuous and lost. To satisfy her hunger, Asma bought cakes and biscuits. On her second day in Tehran, she found work at a workshop, where they provided her with food and temporary shelter. “I spent lonely and very difficult days, constantly thinking about my lost dreams and crying,” she says.

Finding a place to rent in Iran was challenging. Despite Asma’s efforts and appeals to various people and institutions, no organization supporting women’s rights came to her aid. “I never thought all my efforts would end in a struggle for basic survival. Iran is not a utopia for Afghan immigrants, especially women and girls. There isn’t much freedom for women. I work full-time and hard, but it barely covers my expenses and basic needs.”

Living in a country with high rent and food costs, without insurance or support, is difficult for everyone, especially immigrants. Asma’s thoughts are consumed by survival. She hopes for positive change in Afghanistan and urges the international community to find solutions to the current gender apartheid in Afghanistan so that no more women are forced to leave.

It is not only women’s rights activists who had to leave Afghanistan to save their lives. Maria*, 22, was studying and working part-time with an educational organization. Like Asma, she saw her only solution as running away from the country. She made the desperate choice to meet with an Afghan smuggler who told her he could take her to Iran for a high fee — 40 million Iranian tomans, approximately $9500 USD — leaving her no choice but to go illegally.

“After the arrival of the Taliban, women in Afghanistan no longer had a place. Their mere presence was a target, and we had no choice but to throw our hearts into the sea,” she tells More to Her Story.

In Iran, Maria faced many problems, from hard work and the destruction of her dreams to discrimination and insults against Afghan workers. She said that due to the insults she faced from some Iranians in the workplace, she had to leave her job after a while because she could not bear the harassment and insults. According to Maria, the worst thing she heard was: “Afghans ruined their own country; now it's our country’s turn.”

Since September 2021, all formal schooling for Afghan girls over the age of 12 has been suspended, leaving 1.1 million girls and young women without access to education. According to UNESCO, 80% of school-aged Afghan girls and young women are out of school.

Mothers in Afghanistan grieve over their daughters’ lost dreams. Golafrouz, the mother of five girls, shares her sorrow: “For three years, we’ve watched the Taliban’s empty promises to open schools. My daughters are becoming more depressed and withered day by day.”

Golafrouz’s daughter, Mehtab, was in 11th grade when the Taliban took power. She is now willing to be smuggled to Iran rather than live in such conditions.

Mehtab’s pale face and bitter smile reveal her inner turmoil. She tries not to cry as she flips through her books, reading a poem from Dari literature before closing it again. “Yes, I am willing to risk everything to go to Iran as a smuggler rather than live in this situation,” she says.

*Names have been changed for safety.