In the early hours of October 7, a powerful earthquake shook Herat province in western Afghanistan. It was followed by multiple aftershocks and a second, strong earthquake on October 11.

Entire villages across western Afghanistan have been destroyed and over a thousand people lost their lives. And out of the rubble and dust has emerged a shocking statistic: according to the United Nations, women and children make up the vast majority of the dead and injured.

To understand why, a new report co-published by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and the Peace Research Institute Oslo, sheds light on the plight of Afghan women.

Launched on October 24, the “Women, Peace and Security Index” measures women’s inclusion, justice and security in 177 countries, covering over 99% of the world’s population. The report provides alarming figures for Afghanistan, where women are being erased from public life, and ranks the country last on its global index.

In this episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, Torunn Tryggestad, PRIO’s Deputy Director and head of its Centre for Gender, Peace and Security, presents some of the Index's findings. She is joined by Fawzia Koofi, former deputy speaker of the Afghan Parliament, the first woman to hold that role, and one of the rare women to have sat at the negotiating table with the Taliban in 2021. She is also the author of a memoir, “The Favored Daughter.”

PRIO's Peace in a Pod is hosted by Emmy-award winning journalist Arnaud Siad.

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