Taliban enforcing restrictions on single Afghan women: U.N. report

The Taliban restrict Afghan women's access to work, travel, and healthcare based on marital status and male guardianship.

The Taliban are restricting Afghan women's access to work, travel and healthcare if they are unmarried or don't have a male guardian, according to a U.N. report published on January 22.

In one incident, officials from the Vice and Virtue Ministry advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a healthcare facility, saying it was inappropriate for an unwed woman to work.

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The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power in 2021, despite initially promising more moderate rule.

They have also shut down beauty parlours and started enforcing a dress code, arresting women who don't comply with their interpretation of hijab, or Islamic headscarves. In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for women only to show their eyes and recommending they wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions during the Taliban's previous rule between 1996 and 2001.

In its latest quarterly report, covering October to December last year, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said the Taliban are cracking down on Afghan women who are single or don't have a male guardian, or mahram, accompanying them.

There are no official laws about male guardianship in Afghanistan, but the Taliban have said women cannot move around or travel a certain distance without a man who is related to her by blood or marriage.