Taliban Orders Dress Code for Afghan Girls

AGRITA CHHIBBER

According to a Taliban directive sent to educational institutions and acquired by RFE/RL, women attending private universities and colleges in Afghanistan must now adhere to a new dress code and are segregated by gender.

According to the long document released on September 5 by the Taliban-run Education Ministry, all female students, instructors, and staff must don an Islamic abaya robe and niqab that covers the hair, torso, and most of the face. The text also stated that ladies must wear gloves to guarantee that their hands are protected, and that the clothing must be all-black.

The ruling further stipulated that female students could only be taught by other women and that classes should be split by gender, if not completely. However, it also stated that in the event that there were no female professors, “elderly men” of good character might step in.

Since taking control last month with the fall of Kabul’s internationally recognised government, the Taliban has declared that “women and girls will have all their rights within Islam.”

In an effort to convince Afghans and the outside world that they have changed, the insurgents have made an effort to present a more moderate image. The Taliban severely curtailed girls’ education and persecuted women during its cruel rule from 1996 to 2001.

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But the Taliban’s new regulations—which took effect on September 6 as private universities reopened—highlight how, after 20 years of progress, women’s lives are about to undergo a significant transformation under the authority of the hard-line Islamist party.

Clear indication of repression

“The new changes, like gender segregation in schools and universities, are clearly creating more fear and a culture of discrimination against women and girls,” claimed Samira Hamidi, an exiled women’s rights activist who fled Afghanistan due to threats from the Taliban. “Women wearing black veils do not represent Afghan culture,” she continued. It is an obvious indicator of the subjugation of women and girls in society.

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Afghan women took classes with male teachers and studied side by side with males until the Taliban took back power. There was no requirement for women to cover themselves under the dress code either.

Afghans enthusiastically disseminated images of gender separation in classrooms at the elite Ibn Sina University in Kabul on social media. The faces of many of the ladies in the images were visible despite their wearing black robes and hijabs, in apparent violation of the new dress regulation.

Women are required to dress in an abaya, a figure-hugging outer garment, and a niqab, a scarf that covers their faces except for their eyes.

According to Maryam, a resident of Khost in the southeast, many women are willing to don the head-covering hijab. However, she claimed that the burqa or niqab would not be “acceptable to Afghan women.”

The regulations would subject a woman’s male guardian to penalties.

Khaled Hanafi, a well-known hard-liner who serves as the Taliban’s acting minister for the advancement of virtue and the avoidance of vice, issued the order regarding how women and pubescent girls should dress.

He continued, “We want our women to live in safety and dignity. “

What legislative steps, if any, the directive still needed to pass before it could be put into effect, however, was unclear. According to the state-run Afghan Bakhtar news agency, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, “approved and implemented” the draught law.

Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Kenya-based Centre for the Study of Armed Groups, where she focuses on the Taliban, said, “This is just one more step closer to seeing the dominance of these really retrograde, out of touch elements of the Taliban.”

I believe it also represents the growth of this base within Virtue Ministry, which had a similarly disproportionate impact in the 1990s.

According to the Bakhtar news agency, the regulations will be gradually applied by preaching and persuasion at first, followed by penalties.

Her male guardians—not the woman—will suffer the consequences. The regulations will be enforced by her brother, father, husband, or son, and if she disobeys them, they will be held accountable.

“Good Conduct”

In the 1990s, the Taliban also mandated burqa wear. Men and women should enter and exit colleges and universities through separate doors, according to a Taliban rule. According to the text, “Universities are required to recruit female teachers for female students based on their facilities.” Institutions “should try to hire elderly men teachers who have a record of good behaviour” if it is not possible to hire female teachers.

Infringing on Women’s Rights

Others, though, are less certain that the Taliban have reformed and will now allow women to exercise their right to employment and education.

University admission rates in Afghanistan increased after the U.S.-led invasion, especially for women. Millions of girls of all ages returned to school, but the advances in female education were largely confined to urban areas.

As ministers, lawmakers, and provincial officials, women also contributed to public life. Additionally, they were allowed to vote and work outside the house.

The Taliban compelled women to cover themselves from head to toe, forbade them from working outside the home, only allowed pre-adolescent girls to attend school, and demanded that women be subservient to men.

Agrita Chhibber is from Jammu

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