Tuesday, October 29, 2024 –Taliban bans women from
‘hearing other women’s voices’
The Taliban has banned women from hearing other women’s voices in its
latest attempt to restrict women in Afghanistan.
In a voice message on Monday, October 28, the country’s minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice announced the bizarre new restriction on women’s behaviour.
Although precise details of the Taliban’s ruling are unclear, Afghan human rights activists have warned it could mean women are effectively banned from holding conversations with one another.
In his message, minister Khalid Hanafi said: “Even when an
adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly
enough for them to hear.”
“How could
they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear [each other’s]
voices while praying, let alone for anything else.”
He said
these are “new rules and will be gradually implemented, and God will be helping
us in each step we take”.
As the
Taliban has banned living beings from being shown on television, his
message was delivered via voice recording instead of a television broadcast.
“How are
women who are the sole providers for their families supposed to buy bread, seek
medical care or simply exist if even their voices are forbidden?” one
activist said in response.
“Whatever
he says is a form of mental torture for us,” an Afghan woman
in Kabul told The Telegraph.
“Living in
Afghanistan is incredibly painful for us as women. Afghanistan is
forgotten, and that’s why they are suppressing us – they are torturing us
on a daily basis.”
“They say
we cannot hear other women’s voices, and I do not understand where these views
come from,” she added.
Since
taking power in Aug 2021, the Taliban has systematically
restricted women’s rights in Afghanistan.
Women have
already been ordered to cover their faces “to avoid temptation and
tempting others” and refrain from speaking in the presence of
unfamiliar men who are not husbands or close relatives.
“If it is
necessary for women to leave their homes, they must cover their faces and
voices from men” and be accompanied by a “male guardian”, according to the
rules approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader.
Afghan
women have also been ordered not to speak loudly inside their homes,
to prevent their voices from being heard outside.
Women who
defy the new rules will be arrested and sent to prison, the Taliban said.
The
Taliban’s supreme leader has also vowed to start stoning women to
death in public.
“They [the
Taliban] are waging an all-out war against us, and we have no one in the world
to hear our voices,” a former civil servant told The Telegraph from Kabul.
“The world
has abandoned us,” she added. “They left us to the Taliban, and whatever
happens to us now is a result of Western government policies.”
“I feel
depressed. The world is advancing in technology and having fun with their
lives, but here we cannot even hear each other’s voices,” she said.
“They want
us not to exist at all, and there’s nothing we can do about it,” another woman
in western Herat province said.
“They may
succeed at some point, as many are taking their lives due to the pressure,” she
added
“They think
ruling Afghanistan is only about suppressing women – we didn’t commit
a crime by being born as women,” she said.
Below are
some of the things the Taliban has said Afghan women are not allowed to
do:
1.Drive a
car
2.Speak in
public
3.Speak
loudly inside your house
4. Travel
alone
4. Own a
smartphone
6. Wear
bright clothes
7. Wear
high-heels
8. Go to
high school or university
9. Sing
10. Read
the Quran aloud in public
11. Look at
men they don’t know
12. Attend
a protest
13. Go to
the gym
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