NoThey cannot dress as they want, they cannot study or access public parks, go to the gym or the hairdresser. They cannot travel without being accompanied by a man with whom they are related by blood. Again, they cannot meet men who are not their relatives. They can’t sing. If they were ever unfaithful to their husband, they would be stoned. But there seems to be no limit to the suppression of women’s individual freedom in Afghanistan. The new Taliban diktat wants them walled up. From now on the buildings will be built without windows overlooking the rooms where women are relegated, such as the kitchen or the courtyard. The places where women live, prepare meals or collect water from wells. As for existing windows, they must be walled up. The explicit objective is to avoid “obscene acts”, which could be triggered by even a minimal view of female bodies not oppressed by the weight of burqas.
Afghanistan, the Taliban wall up women: no more windows to look or be looked at
The five-article decree was signed by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and calls on local authorities to work together with developers and property owners to ensure effective enforcement of the law. Rule according to which “even seeing the place where women live, the kitchen, the bathroom and the door to the toilet room, is dangerous.”
And it is only the latest oppressive measure implemented by the regime.
Two women photographed in Kandahar on December 28, 2024. (Photo by Sanaullah SEIAM / AFP)
The ban on NGOs hiring women and other (latest) repressive measures
Last December 26, consistently with the ban on Afghan women from working, the Ministry of Economy reminded international NGOs stationed in Afghanistan that they cannot hire female collaborators and that failure to comply with the directive will be punished with the suspension of the license and the cancellation of all ongoing projects.
At the beginning of the month, all courses for access to health professions were banned for women, “until further notice”, including obstetrics, the last one still accessible to girls.
Singing and listening to each other is prohibited
On November 1st, Minister Khalid Hanafi has Afghan women themselves were forbidden to hear each other’s voices. “Even when an adult female prays and another female passes nearby, she must not pray so loudly that she can be heard,” Hanafi said according to the New York Post. The United Nations has defined what is happening in Afghanistan “gender apartheid”.
iO Donna © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED