Taliban official: Afghan women are prohibited from using gyms
A senior Taliban official claims that it has outlawed women from using gyms in Afghanistan. This is the latest order the Taliban has issued since assuming power more than a year ago, restricting women’s freedoms and rights.
Despite earlier assurances to uphold principles of gender equality, the Taliban has prohibited girls from attending middle and high school, barred them from most professions, and mandated that they dress head to toe in public.
The gender segregation orders were being disregarded, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, and women were not donning the necessary headscarf, or hijab.
According to Mohammed Akef Mohajer, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the ministry, the prohibition against women using parks and gyms went into effect this week.
Over the previous 15 months, the group has “done its best” to avoid imposing gender segregation, ordering the closure of women-only parks and gyms, and regulating different days of the week for male and female access.
“But, unfortunately, the orders were not obeyed and the rules were violated, and we had to close parks and gyms for women,” said Mohajer.
“In most cases, we have seen both men and women together in parks, and unfortunately, the hijab was not observed.” So, we had to come up with another decision, and for now, we ordered all parks and gyms to be closed for women.
He added Taliban troops would start watching businesses to see if women were still using them.
Women and men previously did not work out or train together at the Kabul gym where the personal trainer works, the woman told The Associated Press.
She asserted, speaking under the pseudonym “The Taliban are lying,” out of concern for retaliation. “We were working out independently.”
She claimed that two guys who claimed to be from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue came into her gym on Thursday and forced all the women to leave.
She said, “The women intended to protest the closure of the gyms, but the Taliban came and arrested them. We’re not sure if they’re living or dead right now.”
Khalid Zadran, the Kabul police chief’s spokesman, who was chosen by the Taliban, claimed he had no recent information about women being arrested or protesting gym closures.
Alison Davidian, the UN’s special representative for women in Afghanistan, denounced the restriction. She remarked, “This is another illustration of the Taliban’s systematic and ongoing exclusion of women from public life.” We demand that the Taliban restore all freedoms and rights for women and girls.
The Taliban-led government, which struggles to govern and is still ostracised internationally, seems to be dominated by hardliners.
Millions of Afghans have been plunged into poverty and starvation as a result of the nation’s unprecedent economic catastrophe, which has also resulted in financial and diplomatic isolation on the international stage, the disappearance of foreign help as a result of US sanctions.
