Taliban impose ban on women beauty parlours in Afghanistan

The Taliban government in Afghanistan ordered on Tuesday the closure of beauty parlous being run by women, further limiting the freedom of women in the poverty-stricken nation. 

The Taliban Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue has notified authorities to ensure the shutting down of the salons in one month. The order was issued by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Thousands of businesses being run by women will be forced to shut down, leaving them unemployed.

The Taliban have placed several restrictions on Afghan women since their return to power in 2021. They have barred teenage girls from classrooms, gyms and parks.

A manager of the Kabul parlour, who wished to remain anonymous, told AFP: "I think it would have been good if women did not exist at all in this society.

"I am saying this now: I wish I did not exist. I wish we were not born in Afghanistan, or were not from Afghanistan."

They have also been banned from working for the United Nations or NGOs while thousands have been sacked from government jobs.

Mohammad Sadeq Akif Muhajir, who is the ministry's spokesperson, did not give the reason behind the closure.

"Once they are closed then we will share the reason with the media," he told AFP.

"Women used to chat, gossip. There was no fighting here, no noise," said a salon worker.

"When we see some happy and active faces here, we are also refreshed. The salon has a very important role; this place makes us feel comfortable," she added.

Richard Bennett, who is a special rapporteur for Afghanistan, wrote in a report to the UN's Human Rights Council that the living conditions of Afghan women "was among the worst in the world".

"Grave, systematic and institutionalised discrimination against women and girls is at the heart of Taliban ideology and rule, which also gives rise to concerns that they may be responsible for gender apartheid," he wrote.