Taliban government in Afghanistan have banned women in the country from allowing their voices to be heard by other women.
This is yet another punitive restriction to their string of radical measures against women.
This directive, announced by Taliban’s minister of vice and virtue, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi has sparked widespread backlash among Afghan women, who are increasingly calling for the protection of their rights as the Taliban’s policies grow more draconian.
Hanafi, who is sanctioned by the United Nations and the European Union, explained that, under Islamic law, a woman’s voice is considered “awrah”, a term in Islamic jurisprudence meaning something that must be concealed.
He explained that, according to Taliban doctrine, a woman’s voice should not be heard in public and that this rule now extends to her own home when in the company of other women.
“If a woman is not permitted to perform Takbir, then how could she be allowed to sing?,” the minister was quoted as saying, referring to an Islamic expression mainly used by Muslims around the world, which means “God is greater.”
Moreover, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, they have imposed a series of restrictions on Afghan women, mirroring the severe rules from their first regime in the 1990s, which banned television and music.
Afghan girls have been restricted from attending middle and high schools and universities, as well as working in governmental and international non-governmental organizations or NGOs, over the past three years.
The group has further tightened social restrictions on Afghan women: beauty salons have been shut down, women are prohibited from leaving home without a male guardian, their entire bodies and faces must be covered, and female news anchors are required to wear masks on TV.
