Institutionalizing Patriarchy: Household, State, and Cultural Structures under the Post-2021 Taliban Regime in Afghanistan

Author(s)	Ms. Soumya Simran
Country	India
Abstract	Since August 2021, the Taliban regime has introduced a series of decrees restricting women’s education, employment, mobility, and public participation. While these measures are often described as ideological or religious, this paper argues that they represent a systematic institutionalization of patriarchy. Drawing on Sylvia Walby’s structural theory of patriarchy, the article demonstrates how the Taliban consolidate gender domination across three interlocking domains: household patriarchy, state patriarchy, and cultural patriarchy. The regime strengthens male authority within families, codifies gender exclusion through bureaucratic enforcement, and legitimizes subordination through moral-religious discourse. By conceptualizing post-2021 governance as systemic patriarchal state formation, this study contributes to feminist sociological debates on authoritarianism, institutionalized inequality, and gendered citizenship.
Keywords	Patriarchy, State, Taliban, Afghanistan, Cultural, Household, Gender, Feminism.
Field	Sociology > Philosophy / Psychology / Religion
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-29

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