Honor International Women’s Day With Pulitzer Center Stories

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From Kabul to Virginia, women fight to survive

After the capital of Afghanistan fell to the Taliban on August 15, 2021, Batool Haidari had to make a decision: She could continue taking refuge in Iran or return to the Taliban-controlled Kandahar for a prized possession, her doctoral research. The psychologist and sex therapist had dedicated years to her work. So she dared to retrieve it.

Now, almost three years later, Haidari resides in Italy. After a short stint organizing protests in Kabul in 2021, she became one of the thousands of Afghan women forced to flee Taliban control and a well-loved home.

“I am a warrior,” Haidari told Pulitzer Center grantees Amie Ferris-Rotman and Zahra Joya for TIME. “We are all warriors. Not because we are at war, but because we are fighting to survive.”

The rest of Haidari’s story is highlighted in the Pulitzer Center project Afghan Women Far From Home, which is now featured in our Gender Lens virtual exhibit, a gallery curated by the Pulitzer Center’s Daniel Vasta with support from the PIMCO Foundation.

The Pulitzer Center and PIMCO connected three years ago to deepen Gender Equality reporting. Since then, the partnership has produced 76 reporting projects, 27 student reporting fellowships, and 126 outreach events for a global audience of more than 7 million. Gender Lens highlights some of the unique stories and images made possible by this collaboration, and we invite you to take a look this International Women’s Day.

For more photos, you can check out grantee Karen Kasmauski’s exhibit about those confronting maternal health inequities. Nationally, Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during childbirth. Kasmauski’s gallery, which will be on display in Hampton, Virginia, until the end of this month, highlights the Black pregnant women and midwives fighting for change.

You may also review recent and relevant Reporting Fellow investigations. In 2023, we supported more than 10 Gender Equality projects by our Campus Consortium Reporting Fellows. From acid attack survivors advocating for new laws in Pakistan to mothers leading search parties for their missing daughters in Mexico, Reporting Fellow stories remain steadfast in their commitment to covering women’s rights and empowerment on a global scale.

This month and every month, the Pulitzer Center is proud to support stories about women like Batool Haidari. Stories about women fighting for their survival. Stories that advance gender equality around the world.

Happy International Women’s Day,

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Impact

Also from the project Afghan Women Far From Home, we celebrate the ongoing impact since the project’s publication in 2022.

Afghan journalist Zahra Joya won the Gates Foundation 2022 Changemaker Award for her work to “ensure women’s stories in her home country are reported on and reach the attention of the wider public.”

The two pilots featured on the cover of TIME, Hasina Najibi and Raihana Rahimi, once served in the Afghan Air Force. After the Taliban captured Kabul, they were forced to burn their uniforms, pilot IDs, and diplomas for their safety and the safety of their families. After the publication of "Far From Home," journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman says the two women were offered free spots in an American aviation training course. 

Photo of the Week

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“Es crítico darnos cuenta de que la violencia y los crímenes que se cometieron contra las personas LGTB hace tres décadas, durante los años del terrorismo en Perú, todavía se siguen perpetrando de diferentes maneras, a manos de políticos, líderes religiosos, prensa, y ciudadanos que mantienen este tipo de mensajes de odio.”

It is critical that we realize that the violence and crimes that were committed against LGBT people three decades ago, during the years of terrorism in Peru, are still being perpetrated in different ways, at the hands of politicians, religious leaders, the press, and citizens who maintain this type of hate messages.

—Marco Garro Pardo

This message first appeared in the March 8, 2024, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter. Subscribe today.

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