The Taliban has issued a new edict barring Afghan women from allowing their voices to be heard by other women, marking an intensified restriction in the series of limitations imposed on women’s lives. Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister of vice and virtue, explained in an audio statement last week that a woman’s voice is considered awrah — meaning it should be kept private — and therefore should not be heard in public, including by other women.
This restriction extends even to the recitation of the Quran, Hanafi said, emphasising that if religious expressions such as Takbir are prohibited, singing is equally impermissible.
Since taking power in 2021, the Taliban has enforced extensive measures against women, reminiscent of their 1990s rule. These include bans on girls’ education beyond primary school and restrictions on women working in both governmental and international NGOs.
Additional measures prohibit women from leaving home without a male guardian and mandate full body and face coverings. Media restrictions also extend to female news anchors, who must wear masks on TV broadcasts.
Samira, a midwife in Herat province, described the Taliban’s increasingly stringent controls, noting that female health workers are now forbidden from speaking with male relatives of patients, complicating medical care. “They don’t allow us to speak at checkpoints or discuss medical matters in clinics with male family members,” she said.
A recent report from UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennet highlighted that the Taliban’s measures now govern nearly all aspects of Afghan women’s lives.
According to the report, adult men and women who are not relatives are prohibited from viewing each other’s bodies or faces, while Muslim women must cover themselves around “non-believing” women.
