Afghan women say they fear worse is to come after the Taliban introduced a morality law this week that formalises and expands on the increasingly severe restrictions imposed on them since the hardline group seized power three years ago.
The law introduced on Wednesday by the Taliban’s Ministry of Justice is based on a decree by its supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and will be enforced by its Ministry of Preventing Vice and Promoting Virtue.
Many of its 35 articles mandate more rigorous adherence to rules already in force, such as the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces.
“Women were already adhering to strict dress codes, including wearing hijabs, long clothing, and even masks,” said Sara Wahedi, chief executive of Afghan tech company Ehtesab, and a vocal critic of Taliban policies. “The fact that the supreme leader felt the need to codify this further reveals that the Taliban’s ultimate goal is the systematic erasure of women.”
The law also introduces new restrictions. For instance, women are not allowed to speak loudly, or to sing, recite or read aloud in public, since the sound of their voices is considered too intimate. Some provisions apply to men, such as Article 22 that forbids them from wearing a tie or shaving their beards, which are required to be of “fist length”.
The Taliban began imposing bans on women’s rights and movement soon after seizing power in August 2021. Young women and girls have been banned from attending universities and secondary schools; women were forbidden from many jobs in the public and private sector, and allowed to travel only in the company of a male guardian.
“They do not want to see women in the public, and I think they have caught wind of the fact that women have been protesting by manoeuvring through all these restrictions, and that infuriates them even more,” said Ms Wahedi, who lives outside the country.
An activist from Kabul who asked to be identified only as Amina said the Taliban were seeking to close off any way of working around their rules.
“Women have been consistently facing challenges from the Taliban since they took over. But we have also been finding new and unique ways to resist and fight these problems, to protest, to work or study,” she said.
“We look for new ways to simply survive, but they find ways to limit women further.”
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