Discrimination, prohibition, and perseverance: the reality for female journalists in Afghanistan

Nina Jankowicz

Nina Jankowicz is the vice president of the Centre for Information Resilience for US operations. She leads CIR’s work on combating gendered abuse and disinformation, as well as Russian and other foreign disinformation. Nina is the author of How To Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict, as well as How To Be A Woman Online. She has advised the Ukrainian government on strategic communications through a Fulbright-Clinton Public Policy Fellowship and appears frequently on television. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and others.

Zahra Nader

Zahra Nader is an Afghan Canadian journalist and founding editor-in-chief of Zan Times, a media outlet that covers human rights in Afghanistan with a focus on women, the LGBT community and environmental issues. She began her journalism career in Kabul in 2011, before moving to Canada in 2017. Zahra has briefed the UN Security Council during the Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security and recently received the Kathy Gannon Legacy Award. She is currently completing a PhD in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies.

Anouk Theunissen

Anouk Theunissen is a senior investigator and lead reporting officer for the Afghan Witness project at the Centre for Information Resilience. She leads in-depth investigations into human rights violations in Afghanistan. Anouk previously spent two years researching the humanitarian situation in Libya for the Geneva-based NGO the REACH Initiative and worked for a grassroots organisation in Greece during the refugee crisis. Anouk’s work with Afghan Witness utilises open- source information to expose the reality of life in Taliban-held Afghanistan.