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In Afghanistan, silence is not just an absence of sound, it is a way of life. Pressed into us from childhood, it lives in our homes, where from an early age, girls are taught to lower their voices, and to measure every word before it leaves their lips. It lives in the streets, where a glance too bold or a laugh too loud can be dangerous.

I am a land full of sorrow, yet patient — weary, yet still hopeful.

I am a land of beauty, but torn apart by war.

‎‎Growing up as a teenager under Taliban restrictions, I learned to be silent long before I learned to speak up for myself.
‎Silence wasn’t just expected of me, it became my way of surviving.

“I believe we are all born feminist. No one can claim that women deserve fewer rights than men. You are either a feminist or you are a misogynist.” These words, whispered by Maral, a 147-year-old former middle high school student in Kabul, capture the quiet defiance that defines today’s underground resistance movement among Afghan women.