The Taliban, who rule Afghanistan, are increasingly excluding women from public life. The new “virtue law” prohibits them from singing and speaking loudly. Some regulations also apply to men.
“You make me a prisoner at home just because I'm a woman,” sings the young Afghan woman. She makes her protest public with a video on social media: She has pulled a black veil over her face, out of fear of being recognized. Her crime: she sings.
With the latest “virtue law,” the Taliban are restricting women's rights even further. They must cover themselves completely in the presence of strange men. They are no longer allowed to speak loudly or even sing in public.
Prison for women who sing
The Taliban say there is something seductive about the female voice. Men should not be tempted. Even if women sing at home and are heard outside, they face heavy fines or even imprisonment.
Seema also lives in constant fear of the Taliban. Now even more so due to the stricter rules of conduct:
Since the new laws were introduced, our lives here have changed completely. We feel it emotionally, physically and psychologically. Everything has changed. I am afraid to go out, even though I am already fully veiled, just because I am not wearing a burka and I don't have a man by my side.
The 35-year-old is a mother of four children. She has been teaching her daughters at home since the Taliban decreed that girls could only go to school up to the sixth grade. Women are denied access to higher education – and are only allowed to work in a few areas, such as health care.
Only go outside with male accompaniment
“I have a bachelor's degree and used to work in a ministry,” says Seema. Now she is afraid of the day when her daughter becomes a mother herself but cannot even read or write. “The law is radically anti-women.”
Seema's everyday life takes place almost exclusively within her four walls. She is only allowed outside with a male companion. Since the decree, the morality police of the “Virtue Ministry” have been checking even more strictly. This even applies to taxi drivers. If they give unaccompanied women a ride, they face a fine.
The United Nations speaks of a “gender apartheid” in Afghanistan. Women are systematically discriminated against. Ravina Shamdasani from the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva:
The newly passed law cements a policy that completely erases women in public life, silences them and takes away their autonomy by trying to turn them into faceless, mute shadows. This is intolerable!”
Martial arts are considered un-Islamic by the Taliban
But the Taliban's new, strict rules of conduct also apply to men. If they work in the public sector, they must have a beard. And it must not be too short. Men are also not allowed to wear shorts.
The Taliban also see martial arts as un-Islamic. Islamic law prohibits punches to the face. Judo and karate are very popular among young Afghans.
Trainer Sayed now has to close his martial arts studio because of the new law: “Sport is neutral: it belongs neither to politics nor to any ideology. It should only serve health and well-being.”
Most Afghan athletes in this field had already left their home country before the recent ban.
