Gender apartheid refers to an institutionalised system of oppression and domination based on gender, grounded in policies, practices and norms designed to maintain the subordination of certain gender group(s) to other gender group(s).

Although, at the time of writing this glossary, gender apartheid is not explicitly recognised as a standalone crime under international law, the concept is gaining increasing recognition in discussions surrounding the draft Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity. This momentum is primarily driven by local and international civil society organisations, feminist movements and international experts, notably through the global initiative "End Gender Apartheid" led by a group of Afghan and Iranian women. Several states, United Nations (UN) experts and representatives and other international actors have also expressed their support or shown growing interest in the recognition of the concept [1].

At this stage, no established legal definition exists. However, several proposals have emerged, including the following definition, supported by FIDH:

"[I]nhumane acts committed in the context of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one gender group over any other gender group or groups, and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." [2]

This approach aims to broaden the understanding and legal elements under international law – including the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – of the crime of apartheid, which has traditionally been associated with the institutionalised regime of racial segregation that existed in South Africa, to encompass extreme, systematic and institutionalised forms of gender-based discrimination and oppression.

The development of the concept of gender apartheid is particularly relevant to the Afghan context following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. As highlighted and summarised by the international End Gender Apartheid campaign, "the Taliban has launched an extreme, systematic gender-based war, issuing and enforcing over 150 laws, regulations, and policies that severely restrict the daily lives of women, girls, and others – systematically cutting them off from equal education, work, healthcare, justice, political power, and movement, erasing them from public life, and relegating them to child bearers, child rearers, and free domestic labour at home" [3]. This situation is now widely cited as one of the clearest contemporary examples of an institutionalised system of gender-based oppression.

Gender apartheid is often compared to gender-based persecution. While the two concepts may overlap and reinforce one another, they do not cover exactly the same elements. Gender apartheid requires the existence of an institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination, as well as the intention to maintain that regime, whereas gender-based persecution focuses more on the severe deprivation of fundamental rights on gender-related grounds.

→ For further information on the crime of gender apartheid, including its constituent elements, see the Legal explainer by the End Gender Apartheid campaign.