Since taking over in 2021, the nation’s Islamist rulers have further curtailed the rights of women and girls.
According to a UN report released on Monday, Afghan women who are single or lack a male guardian face restrictions on their ability to work, travel, and receive medical care from the Taliban.
According to a UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report, in one instance, representatives from the Vice and Virtue Ministry told a woman that getting married would allow her to continue working at a medical facility because it was improper for an unmarried woman to hold a position of authority.
After seizing power in 2021, the Taliban implemented harsh policies that included preventing women from participating in most public life and preventing girls from continuing their education past the sixth grade, even though they had earlier promised more moderate rule.
In addition, they have closed beauty parlors and instituted a dress code, detaining women who don’t wear headscarves, or hijabs, according to their interpretation.
Dress code and crackdown by male guardians
The Taliban issued a decree in May 2022 that echoed restrictions imposed during their previous rule from 1996 to 2001, urging women to cover their heads and only expose their eyes.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric responded, “Horror!” when asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ thoughts on the most recent bans.
“It must be unimaginable to have to live there,” he stated.
