According to the morals ministry, the Taliban government in Afghanistan has ordered beauty salons to shut down within a month. This is the latest restriction on Afghan women’s access to public spaces.
“The deadline for the closing of beauty parlours for women is one month,” Mohammad Sadiq Akif, a spokesperson for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, said on Tuesday, referring to a ministry notice.
The ministry has also ordered the Kabul municipality to bring the new decree of the Taliban leader into effect and cancel the licenses of women’s beauty salons.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, they barred girls and women from attending secondary high school. Subsequently, authorities prohibited women from attending universities last December.
In the meantime, women have been banned from entering several public spaces, including gyms, parks and baths.
Apart from these, the Taliban has banned women from working with humanitarian workers amid a dire humanitarian crisis in the country.
The United Nations and other regional and international organizations have denounced the repressive policies and practices of the Taliban.
After the Taliban were ousted from power in late 2001, only weeks after the 9/11 attacks on the United States, beauty parlours sprang up in Kabul and other Afghan cities.
After the Taliban took control of Kabul, several remained open by concealing their signs and windows, providing some women work and serving their customers.
Several organizations, including the UN, have warned the Taliban administration that restrictions on women are preventing their rule from gaining international legitimacy.
