The Taliban close the hairdressers, one of the last refuges of Afghan women

Dozens of brave women, including many hairdressers, recently demonstrated against the Taliban's decision to close hair salons; They protested with the slogans “Don't take our jobs” and “Bread, work, freedom and justice”, and were violently repressed by the Taliban security forces.

One of the women who attended, who did not want to be identified, sent a voice message to the journalists assuring that they were dispersed with sticks, electric shocks, tear gas and shots in the air, that they “beat the girls and took away their mobile phones”.

Another protester recounts that she denounced the arrest of some hairdressers who were protesting by the Taliban: “While we were running from alley to alley, they grabbed us and put them in cars. I don't know what will happen to them.” This is not the first time something like this has happened with women's demonstrations in Kabul.

Roya, one of the hairdressers who protested, worked with her mother and sister: “With this hairdresser we could at least cover our daily needs, but the Taliban government narrows the space in which women can move every day.”

The hair salon was an all-female place, but the stalls have still closed. Roya explains that most of the women are the breadwinners of their households and her husband is unemployed.. “I'm worried about what to do next. Who will feed me and my family?” she laments.

“This is an endless nightmare. By closing the hairdressers, the Taliban gave us their last blow to women,” says Zahra, another hairdresser, who says that this increases the economic and psychological problems of women.

“This was my only way to earn money, now I have no choice but to find a way to escape the country. I am really worried about the future of my children,” says Zahra.

Shakila, another hairdresser, points out that women have the right to work, like men, and to get a bite of halal bread with their businesses: “They shouldn't ban hairdressers entirely, I should think of a solution.”

The interim government has announced that women are prohibited from working until further notice. Also in foreign institutions, such as United Nations offices, and non-governmental organizations.

This ban eliminates one of the few shelters for out-of-home women

Rina Amiri, the US State Department's special representative for the human rights of Afghan women and girls, has said this move will further isolate the Afghan Taliban. On July 5, she tweeted: “Taliban ban on beauty salons removes another important place for women to work to support their families.. This ban removes one of the few shelters for women out of the home and makes the country the most brutal and extremely isolated in the world.”

Following the new order of the Taliban leader, 12,000 hairdressing salons close and the activity of all beauty salons for women in Afghanistan is stopped. With the implementation of this plan, some 50,000 Afghan women will become unemployed.

Women's beauty salons in Kabul, the capital, and other cities in Afghanistan were also closed during the early period of Taliban rule; they were reactivated after their fall at the end of 2001 and jobs were created for a large number of women in the cities.

Many of these salons remained open after the group returned to power in August 2021, but in most cases, the photos on their signs were spray-painted to hide the women's faces and they were forced to cover the windows.

Women's freedom has been increasingly restricted in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power. They have banned girls and women from attending schools, universities, stadiums and amusement parks. They have also ordered that women dress so that only their eyes can be seen, and that if they travel more than 72 kilometers they must be accompanied by a male relative.

These bans have continued despite international condemnation and protests from institutions, countries, women and activists who speak on their behalf.. Despite widespread reactions domestically and internationally, the Taliban have not lifted any of their growing restrictions.