The Taliban’s new law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice marks another severe regression in the human rights and freedoms of Afghan women. It confirms and expands the Taliban’s oppressive measures that the regime has imposed since its return to power in August 2021.
The new law enforces strict restrictions on women’s dress codes, forcing Afghan women to fully cover their bodies and faces in public spaces. The new law also prohibits women from speaking in public, effectively erasing Afghan women’s presence. The regulation also bans any form of tight clothing, forcing women to dress in a manner that entirely conceals their body shape.
The new law, reportedly authored by the Taliban’s supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, marks another step in the Taliban’s systemic erasure of women’s presence from public life in Afghanistan: Afghan women must neither be heard nor seen.
The new law is aimed at fully silencing Afghan women. Women’s voices must be heard.
In a further attempt to strip Afghan women of their humanity, the new law mandates that women’s voices must be “concealed” or in other words, silenced, to prevent tempting men. The law labels women’s voices as “intimate” and suggests that anything intimate should neither be seen nor heard in public. Under these restrictions, women loudly reciting the Quran (Muslim’s holy book), speaking, and singing are forbidden.
In the law, it is stated that “when an adult woman leaves her home out of absolute necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body.”
This decree not only bans women from public speaking but also silences their participation in all aspects of public life. Recently, the Taliban’s state TV silenced an Afghan woman journalist on air, when asking a question from a live press conference with Taliban officials. Afghan women took to social media, recording themselves singing and reading poetry in defiance of the Taliban’s new decree. Many powerfully shared that their voices are not a source of shame, cannot be silenced, or treated as “intimate.”
Women cannot be seen.
According to the new regulations, women are now required to cover their entire bodies, including their faces, with thick veils when in public. The Taliban’s rationale is to prevent women from “tempting” men—a claim that must underscore the deeply entrenched gender persecution in the regime’s ideology. The use of thick clothing is specifically mentioned, to make sure that no part of a woman’s body or face is visible, or noticeable, effectively rendering Afghan women invisible in public spaces.
Despite the Taliban’s claims that they are acting following Islamic principles, many Muslim-majority countries and Islamic scholars have rejected the Taliban’s interpretation. The majority of Muslim scholars argue that the teachings of Islam emphasize the dignity and respect of women.
This is not new.
Speaking to some Afghan women, these new regulations are part of a broader campaign by the Taliban to impose their extreme interpretation of religion and culture on Afghan society. Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically erased the rights and freedoms that Afghan women had fought for over the past two decades. The Taliban has issued over 100 edicts, specifically targeting women and girls. Girls are barred from attending school beyond the sixth grade and cannot pursue modern education even if at home. Women are prevented from working in most jobs, their movement is restricted, and cannot travel without a close male member of the family as a guardian.
The Taliban’s Vice and Virtue Ministry is tasked with enforcing these laws and has been instrumental in the implementation of the Taliban’s Gender Apartheid policies. The Taliban has reinstated public punishments, including flogging and stoning, and women who defy the new regulations risk severe penalties, including detainment character shaming and assassinations.
The world condemns the new restrictions, but is condemnation only enough?
Since the release of the new law, the international community has reacted with alarm and dismay. Human rights organizations have condemned the laws as a blatant violation of women’s rights and have called on the global community to take stronger action against the Taliban’s oppressive regime.
Many have called it an “affront to human dignity, “frightening,” and a “gross violation of fundamental rights.”
The present and future for Afghan women remain dark under the Taliban regime.
As the Taliban continues to tighten its grip on Afghanistan and expands its repressive measures, the future for Afghan women grows increasingly bleak. Each new order strips away another layer of human rights and dignity, plunging women and girls further into darkness.
These new laws aren’t just an assault on human rights and freedoms; they represent a profound loss of the very humanity of women—their identity, their voices, and their presence. It places the burden of men’s actions on women and suggests that women are inherently responsible for the sins and wrongdoings of men – whether at home or outside the home.
While the international community condemns these brutal and oppressive restrictions, it now faces a critical challenge: how to effectively respond to the Taliban’s Gender Apartheid policies and increasing human rights abuses.
Afghan women are turning to those who champion human rights, freedoms, and gender equality – those who have long advocated for women’s and human rights in their international relations with both states and actors. If these regressive orders remain unchanged, it raises the urgent need for the international community to seriously consider codifying Gender Apartheid as a crime against humanity. The actions or inactions of the global community will reveal its true commitment to human rights and freedoms for all. Ignoring the oppression of over half the population in Afghanistan is an act of complicity and it only helps solidify the persecution and injustices committed around the world.