Picture this: you have spent decades building a career. You have a master’s degree. You have taught hundreds of students. You walk into work every morning with a sense of purpose. Then, almost overnight, the gates close. You are told you cannot come back. Not because of anything you did, but simply because of you are a woman. This is what happened to female academics across Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. We conducted interviews with 12 Afghan female academics via