Women in Afghanistan have held a rare protest against the Taliban banning beauty salons.
An Afghan beautician applies makeup to a client at a beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif on July 5, 2023. (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images)
On July 4, the Taliban ordered all beauty salons to close in a month because some treatments were “un-Islamic”.
A general view of a beauty salon on July 8, 2023 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images)
Women in Afghanistan were already banned from classrooms, gyms and parks.
A general view of a beauty salon on July 8, 2023 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images)
Salons had been one of the last public places that women could socialize.
Afghan beauticians apply makeup to a client at a beauty salon in Mazar-i-Sharif on July 5, 2023. (Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images)
The decision to close beauty salons will also lead to the loss of around 60,000 jobs, the BBC reported.
Afghan women stage a protest for their rights at a beauty salon in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on July 19, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
On Wednesday July 19, about 50 women took to the streets of Kabul to protest against the ban.
Afghan women stage a protest for their rights at a beauty salon in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on July 19, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
The women held up signs reading “Work, food, freedom”, but they were met with water canons and tasers from Taliban guards, who also shot their guns into the air.
Afghan women stage a protest for their rights at a beauty salon in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul on July 19, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban has increasingly restricted women’s rights, including banning girls from going to high school and university.
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – JULY 08: A general view of a beauty salon on July 8, 2023 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo by Nava Jamshidi/Getty Images)
