Taliban Orders Women to Cover Their Faces
Women have also been told to avoid going out in public
The Taliban on Saturday ordered Afghan women to cover their faces in public and to avoid leaving their homes, in the latest restrictions they have imposed on women since taking power last year.
The decree, issued by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, addresses how women should appear in public, saying they must observe “proper hijab,” an Islamic concept of modesty that applies to women’s clothing, whenever they are in public environments.
Afghanistan is a deeply traditional country, where the overwhelming majority of women dressed conservatively long before the Taliban takeover last August.
Women almost always wear headscarves and loose, fully-covering clothes. But in big cities such as Kabul, face coverings aren’t as common, particularly among younger and educated women.
Now, under the new rules, “women, unless they are very young or very old, must cover their faces except for their eyes whenever they see or meet an unrelated man,” such as in most public places, according to the text of the decree.
The decree also advises women to stay home saying “the best way to observe hijab is to not go out unless it’s necessary.”
Akif Muhajir, spokesman at the ministry of vice and virtue, said the face-covering rule applies to all women of reproductive age, from when they are teenagers. Mr. Muhajir said those women now basically have two dress options: They can either wear the traditional Afghan blue burqa, which has a lace grill over the eyes, or they can wear a niqab, a black veil that leaves open a slit for the eyes, worn over a loose black gown.
No other country currently mandates such a strict interpretation of Islamic dress for women. Punishments for repeat offenders include jail time for the women’s male relatives. The few female civil servants still working will be fired if they break the rules, the decree says.
Shahrbanu Hassanzada, a 48-year-old old mother of five, said she was outraged by the mandate.
“All these restrictions on women are an injustice,” she said. “The Taliban should focus on women’s education and development—that’s what we need, not these hijab rules.”
Marwa Stanikzai, a 32-year-old female dentist, said the Taliban “are bringing women back to the Stone Age.”
“I am a doctor, I am well-educated and I know that none of these rules are in the Quran,” the holy book of Islam.
The decree says that the hijab is required by Islam. The announcement is the latest in a series of increasingly repressive policies targeting girls and women that the Taliban have imposed since they took control of Afghanistan.
Teenage girls aren’t allowed to go to school. Most female civil servants were barred from working. Women are required to be accompanied by a male relative, or mahram, whenever they travel outside their hometown or abroad. University classes are segregated by gender, as are public parks.
“If our hijab distracts men, the Taliban should control men, not women,” said Najla Mastoor, an 18-year-old who has been mostly confined to her home since the Taliban shut down secondary schools for girls, including her own. “Us women are always paying the price for men.”
The Taliban’s treatment of women is being closely watched by the international community. When they first took control of Afghanistan, the Taliban said they would respect the rights of women within the framework of Islam. It was part of a broader effort to present a more moderate image of themselves than when they were in power in the 1990s and Afghanistan was politically and economically isolated.
Since then, however, the more religiously conservative elements within the movement have asserted their influence on policy more forcefully—confirming some of the worst fears many Afghans had about what life under Taliban rule would be like.
Socially repressive rules have also provoked discontent from within the Taliban movement, with many of its members complaining its leadership is out of touch with the country after 20 years of war—and warning such policies risk alienating the Afghan population.
Restrictions on women are already making it harder for Afghanistan to receive political recognition and the financial assistance it needs to address its devastating economic crisis.
In March, after the Taliban reneged on their promise to reopen schools for girls over sixth grade, the World Bank suspended development projects worth $600 million, citing the group’s failure to respect the rights of women. No country has yet recognized the Taliban government as legitimate.