Bahaar Joya
Journalist and NHS Registered Nurse
I am a journalist, currently working as a freelance journalist specialized in women's affairs in Afghanistan for Thomson Reuters Foundation. I have over a decade of experience in journalism in Afghanistan, including my time with BBC Persian in Kabul from 2013 to 2016. After relocating to London, I transitioned to a different career path and became an adult nurse, having completed my Bachelor's degree at Middlesex University, London. I am now working as a Registered Nurse at the Royal Free Hospital, London.
Journalism, Well-Being, and My Journey a BBC Field Journalist in Afghanistan #RISJ40
At the 40th reunion of the Reuters Institute Journalist Fellowship Program, I was one of the panelists for a session on effective tools for improving well-being in newsrooms, and I had the chance to talk about my own experience as a BBC field journalist in Afghanistan. #RISJ40
I was on BBC Radio 4's 'Women's Hour' today (31 August 2023) to talk about my journey from being a journalist to becoming a registered nurse in the UK. I also discussed the women in Afghanistan who, in an attempt to escape the Taliban's suppression, are studying nursing. This not only provides them with a livelihood but also a limited social life outside their homes, where they have been imprisoned for the past two years.
With Afghanistan's Taliban rulers banning women from most jobs, some are turning to nursing and midwifery as a way to keep working.
Afghan women say underground gyms provide a lifeline as Taliban further limit their freedoms
A year after the Taliban takeover, Afghan refugees describe new lives in Britain, Pakistan, Canada and New Zealand - and look at what lies ahead
My appearance on BBC Persian Page Two program on August 10, 2023, centred around my recent report on the training of Afghan women as nurses, enabling them to continue working within Afghanistan despite the challenges posed by Taliban rule.
When I boarded the plane, I started crying very loudly … At that moment, I felt that I had lost everything.
A year after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, 12,000 refugees who fled to Britain remain in limbo, unable to look for jobs and integrate
Mujgan Kaveh, who was a women's rights advocate at home, has retrained as a nurse and is building a new life for her family.
The impact of social media on Afghanistan's social taboos
Reuters Institute Fellow's Paper
In today's interconnected world, social media serves as a catalyst, reshaping perspectives and mindsets within societies, particularly in regions bound by long-standing customs. This paper delves into the enduring challenges that Afghan women have confronted in their quest for fundamental personal rights. It centres on the influence of social media on the entrenched social norms in Afghanistan and the transformative effects it's imparting on a marginalized segment of Afghan society.
People smugglers are more than doubling fees for some routes as they cash in on an exodus fleeing the Taliban
Beauty salons have provided jobs for women across Afghanistan, but with the Taliban back in power, their future appears bleak.
Whether they have left Afghanistan or stayed, professional women have seen their lives upended since the Islamist group took over
9/11 AND JOURNALISM PRACTICE IN AFGHANISTAN: AN INTERVIEW WITH BAHAAR JOYA
Media Diversity conducted an interview with me regarding my first-hand experience of life in Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks.
He became my lawful husband and began to rape me and beat me every single day
Women's rights campaigners have long pushed to be named on official documents including their children's birth certificates, which like Afghan identity documents carry only the father's name
When the Taliban seized Kabul, journalist Bahaar Joya called women she knew and asked them to send a photo recording what could be their last day at work
Death by terror attacks is a horrific but inescapable part of life in Kabul, but Afghan women journalists are also targeted by ultra-conservative violence within their own society. Read my opinion published in Haaretz newspaper, Israel.
An Afghan entrepreneur is hoping to inspire a new generation of women by using her travel agency to help female students secure places at universities in Turkey, Russia and Europe and then break into male-dominated careers. (read here)
In the privacy of their bedrooms in conservative Iran, Sabah’s husband used to burn her breasts with cigarettes during sex, while Sarah was forced to re-enact scenes from the sadomasochist box office hit “Fifty Shades of Grey”.
In Afghanistan’s patriarchal society, a woman’s name should not be revealed, even on her grave. “Mr X’s” mother, daughter or sister, the headstone might read, rather than the name of the deceased.
