Women in Afghanistan have held a rare protest against the Taliban’s decision to shut female beauty parlours and salons.
Women shouted “work, bread and justice” while they were gathered in the capital city, Kabul.
Taliban guards responded with water cannons, and some protesters said stun guns were also used against them.
Women’s rights have been increasingly restricted since Taliban rulers returned to power in 2021.
Around 50 women took part in the protest on Wednesday, according to AFP news agency.
The Taliban have given businesses one month from 2 July to close thousands of beauty salons across the country.
They said the wearing of wigs and the practice of eyebrow-plucking were against Islamic values and parents were wasting money on beauty parlours when couples get married.
The decision further restricts the spaces accessible to Afghan women, who are already barred from classrooms, gyms and parks. More recently, the Taliban also banned them from working for the United Nations.
The closure of all beauty salons will lead to the loss of 60,000 jobs, Afghanistan’s chamber of commerce said.
Beauty salons were last shut when the Taliban ruled between 1996 and 2001. They stayed open after the Taliban retook power two years ago following the withdrawal of US forces, but shop windows were often covered up and images of women outside salons were spray painted to hide their faces.
The Taliban’s restrictions on women, which include strict dress codes and limits to them travelling alone, have continued despite international condemnation.
They are catering to hardcore misogynists who want women be treated like pets. The right to decide your apperance, having self respect, being picky about your partner and enjoying yourself as a woman in general is against some imaginary trad values, and what men who are usually in their militant clique don’t like, not to say it’s too ‘foreign’ to their taste. Producing drugs and abusing kids aren’t tho – they walked back on fighting these after initially saying so iirc.
They are a militant cartel with a religious cover. And they bend whatever they want from it to control masses, as they have a local monopoly on saying what is ultimately good or bad by the will of God (since they have guns). Is it so uncommon?
My AK says I am the chad there. That chad wants to fuck and have spare cash. Isn’t it convinient my retelling of the book says it’s a natural order?
Never happened, but there it is once again.