One of the last places where Afghans could earn a living and meet each other to talk and leave the house — hair and beauty salons — will have to close their doors nationwide by July 25 by direct order from the supreme leader. of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatulá Ajundzadá. The order to revoke the licenses of these businesses was included in a statement released on Sunday by the Taliban Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, of which reported Tuesday the Afghan daily Hasht-E Subh Daily. In a country where, with few exceptions, the Taliban had already banned women from working, this move deprives several thousand more Afghans and their families of their livelihoods. There are no figures on how many establishments of this type there are throughout the country, but the Afghan press and activists consulted by this newspaper estimate them to be between more than 1,000 and several thousand.
“Unfortunately, this news is true and the beauty salons have already been closed,” Laila Basim, one of the founders of the Coalition of the Movement of Afghan Women Protesting, confirms via WhatsApp from Kabul. “There are more than a thousand hair salons across the country and each of these women’s salons employs between five and six people. This means that thousands more women will be left without work”.
The Taliban statement reporting the revocation of the licenses does not offer any reason for their closure. Mohammad Sadeq Akif Muhajir, spokesman for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice, assured Agence France Presse on Tuesday: “Once the businesses close, we will explain the reason to the media.” During their previous period in power, between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban also closed this type of establishment which, in Afghanistan, maintains strict segregation of the sexes.
A “gender apartheid”
Since the fundamentalists regained power on August 15, 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan have been progressively deprived of the rights they had gained during the 20-year international military presence in the country. To this end, fundamentalists have approved dozens of decrees whose ultimate goal, Basim stresses, is to “separate Afghans from all spheres of society.”
Afghans are prohibited from studying from the age of 12 and from working in the Administration, the security forces, banks, NGOs and the United Nations. Women are also not allowed to obtain a passport or travel without the company of a close male relative. Leisure is also forbidden to them. In addition to the general ban on listening to music, Afghans can no longer enter parks, gardens or gyms. Do not go to public toilets either. Five out of ten Afghans do not have access to basic sanitation facilities, according to Unicef data. For many women and girls, these baths were the only way to wash with hot water and have adequate menstrual hygiene.
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On June 20, a team of United Nations experts presented a report on the persecution of Afghan women, which defines what women and girls experience in that country as a “apartheid of gender”, which can be considered a “crime against humanity”. The text highlights one aspect: the attempts of complete “domination” of women, the “serious, systematic and institutionalized” discrimination and the “control environment” that prevents women and girls from leaving home.
“The Taliban are enemies of women and this [el cierre de estos negocios] It is not the last measure against them nor will it be. By repressing women, what the Taliban wants is to use Afghans to blackmail the international community into recognizing them [como Gobierno legítimo de Afganistán]”, asserts Laila Basim, referring to the fact that the Taliban are trying to convince the international community to legitimize them in exchange for moderating their policies against women.
Mental health
Ariana also answers WhatsApp from Kabul with her voice off. Until the fundamentalists returned to power, this 19-year-old girl, who hides her identity under a false name, was studying at the American University in Kabul. Deprived of continuing her education, she dedicates her time to sharing her good English with other Afghan teenagers, through a platform in which she teaches them that language. Ariana believes that the closure of the hairdressers is for the purpose of “preventing women from leaving the house”, but she agrees with Basim that the most serious consequence of this measure will be the loss of several thousand women’s jobs.
“My neighbor’s father does not have a job and the family subsisted thanks to the work of the mother, who is a dressmaker, since the daughters worked in beauty salons. But it’s not just about my neighbor. These are thousands of women who work in those businesses, especially after the collapse of the Government [del presidente Ashraf Ghani, derrocado por los talibanes]because many women were unemployed and had no other alternative than those hairdressers and beauty centers to work outside the home”, deplores this young woman, who confesses that every day she has to “fight with herself” to avoid falling into discouragement.
Of the 2,000 Afghans interviewed by the UN Group of Experts to prepare its report on the apartheid in Afghanistan, half reported knowing at least one woman or girl who had suffered from anxiety or depression since fundamentalists returned to power. “Declining mental health is a serious concern for all the women we spoke to,” the experts stressed.
“I’m almost always at home, maybe I go out once a week and sometimes, not even that: I don’t have any reason to go out. I work a lot through the internet and many friends my age do the same. This is very, very hard. Sometimes I feel that not having physical activity, not meeting people, not being able to meet with anyone makes me feel like I’m going crazy”, summarizes Ariana.
Parasto Hakim, an activist for girls’ education rights in Afghanistan who speaks from a location she does not disclose for security reasons, asks, alluding to the Taliban: “What can you expect from a terrorist group? Is it that some terrorist likes beauty? All they want is to destroy.”
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