In a troubling new directive, the Taliban has banned women in Afghanistan from hearing other women's voices, further tightening restrictions on female behavior in the country. This announcement was made by Khalid Hanafi, the minister for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, in a voice message on October 28.
While the specifics of the ruling remain ambiguous, Afghan human rights activists fear it may effectively prohibit women from engaging in conversations with one another. Hanafi stated, "Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear." He added that these "new rules will be gradually implemented," suggesting a systematic approach to enforcing the ban.
The minister’s message was delivered via voice recording, as the Taliban has also prohibited the depiction of living beings on television. Activists have raised concerns about the implications of this ruling, questioning how women, many of whom are the primary providers for their families, can function in society if their voices are silenced.
One activist lamented, "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?" An Afghan woman in Kabul expressed her anguish, stating, "Living in Afghanistan is incredibly painful for us as women... they are torturing us on a daily basis."
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban has systematically stripped away women's rights, enforcing mandates that require women to cover their faces, refrain from speaking in the presence of unfamiliar men, and be accompanied by a male guardian when leaving their homes.
The Taliban, have also banned:
All music
All dancing
All photographs of people
Women talking in the streets
Women showing their faces in public
Women requesting a divorce
Women wearing high heeled shoes
Women riding bicycles
Women using buses
Women laughing
Education for women