In the latest round of restrictions, the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has told women to get married if they want to work.
The new restrictions come a few months after the Taliban banned women from visiting beauty salons and gave salon owners one month to wrap up their businesses.
Authorities also put a lock on most girls high schools, barred women from going to universities and stopped many female Afghan aid staff from working. The Taliban also restricted women from air travel without a male relative in latest curbs since coming into power in the war-torn country.
Officials of the ministry in charge of implementing Islamic laws in Afghanistan have advised women that it is not appropriate for an unmarried woman to work. If a woman wants to keep her job in the health sector, she should get married.
In its October-December 2023 quarterly report, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the Taliban is cracking down on Afghan women who are unmarried or do not have a male guardian.
On the other hand, three female health care workers were arrested in October for going to work without a male relative, not to mention the fact that women in Afghanistan’s Paktia province had no access to health facilities.
According to a UN report, in December last month, the Taliban visited bus stations in Kandahar, during which they instructed bus drivers not to allow women to travel on the buses without a male relative.
Taliban administration bans women beauty salons in Afghanistan
