Women who have jobs in the business sector of Nili, the capital of Daikundi province, say that the Taliban’s directorate of vice and virtue issued a new order: avoid doing business with male clients and employers.
The women, who spoke to Zan Times on condition of anonymity, say that Taliban agents came to their shops in Nili Bazaar on Wednesday and summoned them to appear at the directorate of vice and virtue the following day.
One of the women who went to the directorate told Zan Times that when they visited the office, the Taliban insulted and humiliated them. “When we arrived at the gate of the directorate, they told us to cover our faces, and if we have something to say, we should turn our backs and then talk,” she says.
One of the women who asked to be called Gulandam, who works as a tailor to feed her family of five, tells Zan Times that about 16 women were summoned to the directorate. Two Taliban officials who didn’t identify themselves then told the women that they are no longer permitted to sew men’s clothes and were not even allowed to look at men.
Gulandam says that the Taliban threatened to close shops of anyone who violated their new order.
Another working woman in the city, who asked to go by the pseudonym Lal Begum, confirmed Gulandam’s account, adding, “The Taliban warned us that you no longer have the right to open the gate of a shop where you are dealing with men.”
According to her, the Taliban also ordered female business owners to modify their shops so that they could not be seen from the street.
Although the Taliban have not officially banned women from working in the business sector, the new rules against trading and dealing with male clients and employers make it practically impossible for women to continue to make a living by their trade.
The UNDP says that the Taliban restrictions on women’s work can cost the country US$1 billion, equivalent to five percent of the country’s GDP. Since the Taliban have come to power they have imposed increasingly severe restrictions on women and have deprived many of the opportunity to earn a living. While the country is engulfed by a humanitarian crisis, this leaves many female-led households in a very precarious situation.
