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.”
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
14. Go to the park
15. Work in the civil service
16. Ride in a taxi
17. Go abroad
18. Show their faces in public
19. Speak to a male doctor
20. Play sport
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