Taliban bans women’s voices, bare faces from public in new restrictive laws

The new laws come after the Taliban already placed heavy restrictions on women's rights, including banning women and girls from attending school after Grade 6.

Life as a woman in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan just got even more restrictive as a government ministry enacts new laws on “vice and virtue” in the country, banning women’s voices and uncovered faces from public life.

The laws were issued Wednesday by the ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice,” which was established in 2021 after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan.

That was the year the U.S. military and other western powers, including Canada, evacuated the country, leaving behind a power vacuum quickly filled by the militant group. Many Afghans who worked for western powers, including drivers and interpreters, were left behind in the chaotic departure.

The new rules were laid out in a 114-page document that covers vast aspects of everyday public life, according to The Associated Press, which viewed the document. This marks the first formal declaration of “virtue laws” in Afghanistan since the takeover.

“Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,” ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq said on Thursday. The laws were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on Wednesday.

Article 13 of the document concerns women, and lays out how a woman should clothe and conduct herself in public.

It is now mandatory for women to veil their entire bodies, including their faces, at all times in public to avoid temptation and tempting others. This means that the common Islamic head-covering, the hijab, which covers the hair and neck but not the face, is no longer considered appropriate.

Women are also forbidden from singing, reciting and reading aloud in public, as a woman’s voice is deemed “intimate” and should not be heard. It’s unclear if speaking is also banned.