Kabul’s Beauty Salons Forced to Close, Limiting Women’s Gatherings

Magnificence Salons Going through Ban in Kabul: Afghan Ladies in Panic

Afghan girls are in a state of panic and dismay because the Taliban proclaims a looming ban on magnificence salons in Kabul, the capital metropolis. This ban is simply one of many many edicts imposed by the Taliban, proscribing girls and women from public life. The severity of those restrictions has led the U.N. to warn that the Taliban’s actions could quantity to gender apartheid and a criminal offense towards humanity within the type of gender persecution.

Set to return into impact on the finish of July, the ban on magnificence salons will influence round 3,000 women-run institutions in Kabul, resulting in job losses for hundreds of girls. These salons weren’t solely a supply of livelihood but in addition supplied a uncommon area for girls to work overtly underneath Taliban rule. With women banned from faculty past the sixth grade and ladies restricted to professions in educating and healthcare, the closure of magnificence salons additional restricts girls’s alternatives for financial empowerment.

Because the information of the ban unfold, condemnation poured in from U.N. officers and Western diplomats like Rina Amiri, the U.S. particular envoy to Afghanistan. Many Afghan girls depend upon magnificence salons for revenue, particularly throughout extravagant weddings, the place salon makeovers are a key a part of the celebrations. The ban, which is alleged to be rooted in spiritual beliefs and social pressures, can have a major influence on the financial stability of girls in Kabul.

Samia Faqiri, a salon proprietor, shared her story of how the salon enterprise supplied her with a good revenue, permitting her to help her household and make use of different girls. Equally, Yalda Hashimi, a 22-year-old salon proprietor, spoke about how working in salons from a younger age helped her turn into the breadwinner for her household. The closure of magnificence salons won’t solely have an effect on these girls’s livelihoods but in addition their capability to financially help their households.

Whereas some members of the Afghan society have welcomed the ban on magnificence salons, citing spiritual causes and lavish spending on bridal makeovers, others see it as a direct assault on girls’s autonomy and financial empowerment. The Taliban’s imposition of strict gown codes and restrictions on girls’s public presence has been a trigger for concern since they seized energy in 2021.

As Afghan girls grapple with the uncertainty of their future underneath Taliban rule, many are contemplating leaving the nation searching for higher alternatives. The closure of magnificence salons, which had been a uncommon supply of revenue and independence for girls, is pushing them in the direction of determined measures, together with looking for refuge in neighboring nations.

Regardless of the challenges they face, Afghan girls are decided to search out methods to help themselves and their households. The ban on magnificence salons could also be a setback, however it is usually a testomony to the resilience and power of Afghan girls within the face of adversity.