In societies that are trying with all their might to implement the elementary concepts of religion, the mentality of excluding women is still strong and persistent. the background images of women's hairdressing salons in Afghanistan were part of the colors of beauty under a leaden atmosphere and cities reeking of death.

 

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Edited by| Christian Megan

 

Humanity   section -  CJ journalist

 

Kabul- July,8,2023

 

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These photos remind us of the woman's presence on the streets of the city with her face uncovered. She also reminds us of the presence of women in a very harsh male society, but the recent decision of the leader of the "Taliban" movement robbed them of this only female advertisement.

In an official statement of the Ministry of promotion of Virtue and Prevention of vice, sent on June 26 last to all municipalities of Afghanistan, according to the verbal order issued by the leader of the "Taliban" Mullah hebbatullah Akhundzada, all women's beauty salons must stop working within a month, otherwise those who do not comply with the decision will be punished.

The news spread like wildfire on social media in Afghanistan and even in the international media, but the truth is that Afghan women have been expecting the "Taliban" to make such a decision for a while. This belief was reinforced by the Prohibition of women from going to sports clubs, swimming clubs, recreation centers and even restaurants in some Afghan cities.

Before the decision was issued to ban women's beauty salons from operating, the Ministry of promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice affiliated to the "Taliban" had issued other verbal decisions related to women's makeup. Among these decisions was that women should do wudu before makeup, while forbidding them to cut their hair and suck their eyebrows, but in the end Mullah hebbatullah, the leader of the movement, fired the last shot and completely banned women's beauty salons from operating.

Basically, authoritarian patriarchal thought is a product of an extreme religious mentality that always tries to prioritize a man and prevent a woman from appearing as much as possible. This mentality we see in religious texts is more justified and clear, women are always encouraged to obey and submit to a man, to live exclusively within the limits of his desires and needs.

This way of thinking may have changed somewhat after centuries, especially after the introduction of the values of Science, Technology and democracy, but in societies that are trying with all their might to implement the elementary concepts of religion, the mentality of excluding women is still strong and persistent.

Since freedom by nature gives a person strength, and a man draws his strength from religious thinking, for this he never accepts the domination of a woman in any way. It is for this reason that a man usually uses Hadiths and even various Quranic verses as an excuse to prove that a woman cannot be a witness, judge or imam. After all, women do not have the ability to drive.

It is known that the "Taliban", "al-Qaeda" and "ISIS" have many commonalities, most notably the reconstruction of the initial concepts of the Islamic religion and religious fundamentalism. It is remarkable that they are racing against extremism. That is why in the thinking of these groups women are considered to be slaves or material goods, therefore they do not need individual freedoms, pleasure, leisure, comfort and personal desires.

These radical decisions, along with thousands of other prohibitions issued by the "Taliban" movement, we will discuss the recent decision to ban women's beauty salons in Afghanistan because it is the topic of today.

Historically, the existence of women's beauty salons in Afghanistan dates back several decades, however, in the last two decades, due to the return of many Afghan immigrants to the country and bringing experience and knowledge, as well as due to the spread of the internet and communication with the outside world, interest in fashion and beauty styles has increased among young and middle-aged people. The extensive change in the way women dress and make-up, especially in the last 10 years, is an inevitable result of these new experiences brought by returning Afghan immigrants to the country.

The high demand in the market of women's beauty salons led to an increase in supply, and this is what prompted many women to work in these salons. Meanwhile, the Ministry of women's affairs of Afghanistan (now the "Taliban" Ministry for the promotion of good and the Prevention of evil) has set up educational projects for women with the help of international organizations to teach Afghan women the female Cosmetic Arts. In the last two decades, many women have obtained training certificates in this field and entered the labor market.

The results of these projects carried out by the Ministry of women's affairs were not only to increase the number of hairdressers, women's interest in beauty and makeup, women's self-esteem, but also left a tremendous impact on the economy of the Afghan family. It is noteworthy that hundreds of women who were suffering from economic problems were able to get jobs after completing training courses, and many of them established their own beauty salons using financial loans dedicated to supporting women, which helped provide job opportunities for many Afghan women.

Now, after the fall of the Afghan government and the arrival of the "Taliban" movement to power, and although many women's beauty salons in many cities stopped working because of the threats of the "Taliban" movement, some of these salons resumed their activity after months of suspension.

"After the Taliban issued a decision to ban women from going to sports clubs and entertainment venues, I felt that the movement would close women's beauty salons soon, so I closed my salon for fear that one day they would attack the place and arrest me,"Kabira, a young woman who owned a beauty salon in Kabul city, told Independent Persian.

"Recently, after seeing that some beauty salons are still working, I was encouraged to return to work again because the economic problems are putting a lot of pressure on us. We have lost hope".

Kabira says that she is the main economic financier of her family, because her husband is a peddler and his financial return is very small.

In fact, the economic impact of women's beauty salons on Afghan families has become very noticeable, and now that women's activities are banned, the economic pressure on families that depend on this type of economic activity will increase, as is the case for women who have been banned from working in government and international organizations, so the table of thousands of Afghan families is empty of a loaf of bread.

 

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