“Virtue Guardians” disagree
Women in Afghanistan have to close shops
01/10/2023, 06:11 p.m
Since taking power, the Taliban have continued to restrict women’s rights. Parks, gyms and universities have been taboo since last year. According to a report, shopkeepers are now having to close their shops. In addition, visiting doctors in a city is only possible to a limited extent.
In Afghanistan, the media are reporting further restrictions on women in the Islamist country ruled by the Taliban. Female entrepreneurs in several Afghan provinces have been ordered to close their businesses, local news channel Tolonews reported. In the city of Pul-e Chumri in the north of the country, for example, hairdressing salons should close. The Hasht-e Sobh newspaper reported that a women’s handicraft market had been closed in the southern city of Kandahar.
A spokesman for the so-called Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, however, rejected the reports to the German Press Agency as “untrue”. “A member of the virtues and vices department came and told us that we have a week to vacate our shops and stay at home,” however, a shopkeeper in northern Mazar-i-Sharif told Tolonews.
Hairdressers in Pul-e Khumri said the Taliban felt their work violated Sharia, Islamic law. Many hair salons in Afghanistan also offer elaborate make-up or beauty treatments.
Taliban accept the deaths of women
Like the “Bild” newspaper based on the independent Afghan newspaper “Hasht-e Subh Daily” reported, the Taliban regime also banned women in the northern Afghan city of Balch from visiting male doctors. Since there are hardly any female doctors in Afghanistan, many women are exposed to significant health risks.
The Taliban, who have been in power again since August 2021, have been criticized internationally for their massive curtailment of women’s rights. Schools for girls from the seventh grade on are closed in large parts of the country, and university attendance has also been taboo for women since December. In November, parks and gyms were also forced to close their doors to women. At the end of December, women were banned from working for non-governmental organizations. Above all, the ban on education repeatedly leads to demonstrations in Afghanistan.