Taliban have threatened secretly operating women beauty salons all over Afghanistan with one month of closure or arrest. The government officially shut down all beauty salons in August 2023, closing down 12,000 businesses and eliminating more than 50,000 jobs for women beauticians. Despite the official ban, many underground salons have remained operational within societies around the nation, providing women with a limited space for social interaction and earnings.
Taliban authorities have then directed community elders and leaders to pinpoint and report any clandestine beauty enterprises to the "vice and virtue" police. Human rights activists protest that the action is part of the regime's overall drive to tighten gender restrictions and dominate women's presence in public life.
For others such as Frestha, 38, a mother of three, running a secret salon has been a question of survival. She said that when the formal closures were made, she had no other source of income and had to look after her ill husband and children. "When a woman gazed at herself in the mirror and smiled, her joy was my joy," she said, emphasizing the personal and emotional benefit her work had for the community.
Yet, she concedes the new Taliban rule has rendered it all but impossible to continue. "The risk is too high, but I do not know any other work. Our situation is very bad, but no one hears our voice or supports us," she went on to say.
ALSO READ: Women Shut Out Of Taliban’s 4-Year ‘Victory Day’ Celebration As Nation Remains Divided
Since regaining power in August 2021, the Taliban have put in place draconian limits on women, prohibiting most types of paid work and refusing girls access to secondary school and university. Gyms, beauty shops, and other public spaces are shut down, and women are subjected to strict protocol when they travel or go out in public, such as needing a chaperone and covering themselves completely.
Human rights activists call the situation one of de facto gender apartheid, harshly limiting women's prospects, liberties, and fundamental rights. The repression of clandestine beauty salons points to the daily dilemma Afghan women must navigate in seeking to earn a livelihood and stay connected to society in an ever more restrictive setting.
As Taliban enforcement tightens, women’s livelihoods and social spaces remain under threat, leaving many to navigate an uncertain and dangerous path forward.
