Women protest the beauty salon ban in Afghanistan
Back in 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s government. When the group came into power, it began restricting certain rights, especially for women.
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The backstory: Back in 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s government. When the group came into power, it began restricting certain rights, especially for women. Over the past two-ish years, women have been barred from formal education, certain public spaces (such as parks and gyms) and most types of employment. They have to follow strict dress codes and can’t travel alone. The new government says these steps are being taken to benefit women’s lives there. While there have been some protests against these oppressions, they’ve been quickly squashed.
More recently: Last month, the Taliban announced it would be closing women’s beauty salons – a move that was confirmed and publicized earlier in July. In a ministry-issued letter, Afghanistan’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, said the ban would apply to Kabul and all of the Afghan provinces. The letter gave salons a month's notice from July 2 to get everything together and close their doors. The salons were told to submit closure reports after tying up business. There was no official reason given for the ban at the time, but they later said that wearing wigs and eyebrow-plucking are against Islamic values and are a waste of money when it comes to wedding preparation. As soon as this news came to light, it drew international criticism, with the UN and human rights groups condemning it. This could also result in the loss of about 60,000 jobs, according to Afghanistan's chamber of commerce.
The development: With Afghanistan’s thousands of beauty salons starting to close now, women in Kabul are taking to the streets in protest. On Wednesday, around 50 women were reported demonstrating there, shouting “work, bread and justice!” Taliban guards tried to break up the gathering by spraying the women with water cannons and shooting their guns into the air. A few protesters even said the guards used tasers on them. Later, the protesters reportedly headed off to the UN mission in Afghanistan.
Key comments:
"Out of 100%, 95% of Afghans do not want their women to go to work," said Mohammad Haqbin, the deputy director of the ministry of public works, to Afghan media outlet TOLO.
"The Taliban ban on beauty parlors removes another vital space for women's work at a time when they're struggling to feed their families, eliminates one of the few refuges for women outside the home & further transforms the country into a cruel & extreme outlier in the world," US special envoy to Afghanistan Rina Amiri tweeted earlier this month.
“The purpose of our demonstration was that they (the Taliban) should reconsider and reverse the decision to close beauty salons because this is about our lives,” said one protester who chose to stay anonymous. “All of us, 50 to 60 women, participated. Our slogan was work, bread and freedom.”
“Reports of the forceful suppression of a peaceful protest by women against the ban on beauty salons — the latest denial of women’s rights in #Afghanistan — are deeply concerning,” the UN mission tweeted. “Afghans have the right to express views free from violence. De facto authorities must uphold this.”
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