Analysts speculated that international pressure, and the need for legitimacy and economic support might lead the group to adopt a more accommodating approach, particularly regarding human rights, governance, and women‘s rights.
However, these hopes have largely been dashed as the Taliban has reverted to many of its previous repressive policies especially when it comes to women who have been reduced to mere shadows in their own country.
Taliban’s anti-women tendencies started to come to the forefront mere days after recapturing Kabul in August 2021.
Since then, dozens of law and edicts have been passed that have effectively removed women’s presence in the public.
Morality law
The latest blow to women’s rights came in August this year — just days after the Taliban marked the third year of taking power — when Afghanistan’s ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice passed a draconian morality law.
Issued on August 21, the new law orders women to cover their bodies and faces entirely and not speak or sing loud enough for non-family members to hear them.
The document of the law published in the official gazette imposes its interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law.
- Women’s voices, it says, are now considered as ‘awrah’, or intimate parts, and may only be experienced in cases of necessity.
- The orders related to hijab are described, and it is said that it is essential to cover the whole body of the woman and it is necessary to cover the face due to the fear of temptation.
- The law states, the ombudsmen are responsible to prevent the drivers from playing music, using drugs, transporting women without hijab, providing a place for women to sit and mingle with men who are not mahrams [close male relative/guardian], and from being wise and mature.
- “It is haram for unrelated men to look at the bodies or faces of unrelated women, and it is haram for unrelated women to look at unrelated men,” the law ratified by Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada states.
Punishment for these “crimes” will be carried out by the Taliban’s Muhtaseebs or morality police who have the authority to detain individuals for up to three days.
Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani has said the newly-adopted law “cements policies that completely erase women’s presence in public-silencing their voices and depriving them of their individual autonomy”.
Shamdasani said the law effectively attempts to render women into “faceless, voiceless shadows”.
“These measures are disturbingly similar to the Taliban’s draconian rule in the 1990s and provide further evidence that the group has not moderated its approach since its return to power,” the UN body has said.
List of anti-women laws, edicts since 2021
The morality law is merely the latest nail in the coffin, reversing two decades of progress and establishing a regime of oppression and control.
The Taliban administration started introducing anti-women laws just days after taking power on August 15, 2021.
Freedom of movement
- August 25, 2021: Women ordered to stay indoors. Taliban claimed their soldiers were not accustomed to seeing women in public.
- December 2021: Women prohibited from traveling long distances (over 72 km) without a male guardian (mahram) and a legitimate reason.
- May 5, 2022: Stopped issuing drivers’ licenses to women.
- November 2022: Women banned from parks and gyms, with further restrictions on their access to public baths and recreational areas.
- March 27, 2022: Women banned from traveling abroad without a mahram and legitimate reason.
- January 16, 2023: Instructed travel agencies not to sell tickets to women without a mahram.
Health access
- September 8, 2021: Women banned from playing sports.
- March 2022: Women barred from entering health centres without a male escort.
- January 2023: Female health professionals required to be accompanied by a mahram to their workplaces.
Education
- August 30, 2021: Declared ban on co-education and prohibited men from teaching girls.
- September 12, 2021: Banned girls from secondary education.
- March 24, 2022: Announced schools for girls in Class 7 and up will remain closed.
- December 20, 2022: Female university education suspended. Taliban states the order will remain in effect until a “suitable environment” is established.
- June 8, 2023: Banned foreign NGOs from providing educational programs including community-based education.
- March 6, 2023: Institutes of higher education directed to only admit male students.
- March 12, 2023: Universities banned from issuing transcripts and certificates to female graduates.
Workplace restrictions
- November 22, 2021: Women banned from television dramas.
- May 19, 2022: Female TV presenters, guests ordered to cover their faces.
- July 2022: Female employees in the ministry of finance instructed to send male relatives to take their jobs if they wished to continue receiving salaries.
- August 10, 2022: Female flight attendants removed from their jobs.
- December 24, 2022: Women banned from working for international and local NGOs.
- December 27, 2022: Women-run bakeries banned in Kabul.
- February 1, 2023: Female staff of hospitals in Kabul told to wear black hijab (Arabic long gown) and mask at all times.
- February 22, 2023: Four medical centres run by female doctors closed as male patients were being treated by female doctors.
- June 17, 2023: Women banned from participating in radio and TV shows where the presenters are men.
- July 6, 2023: Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announces ban on beauty salons [all run by women for women] because services provided by the salons were forbidden by Islam.
Dress code and behaviour
- May 2022: Decree issued requiring women to wear full-body coverings (burqas or abayas) in public, with enforcement measures against male guardians who did not ensure compliance.
- September 2023: Taliban warns women against using Facebook, TikTok, Twitter and other media tools.
Enforcement and punishments
- August 2022: Taliban establishes a morality police department focused on enforcing gender-specific rules and dress codes for women.
- November 2022: Taliban reinstates Hudud and Qisas punishments, which include severe penalties for various offenses, including those related to gender behavior.
- March 2024: Taliban’s supreme leader announces reinstatement of flogging and stoning for women accused of adultery, marking a significant escalation in punitive measures against women.