Taliban Ban Women’s Voices in Shops in Herat
- Ariahn Raya
- Sep 11
- 2 min read
In the latest repressive action by the Taliban, women’s voices in shops have been banned.
The group’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat has warned women that when buying goods they must not speak loudly, but instead signal to the seller to convey their needs. This decision has sparked a wave of anger and despair among women and human rights activists in Afghanistan.
Women in Herat consider this ban the “most humiliating” form of social repression.
One woman living in Herat told Zan News: “Even the right to speak has been taken from us. We are no longer human, only a shadow of existence that must remain silent, muted, and invisible.”
The ban on women’s voices is a continuation of the Taliban’s deeply misogynistic policies which, since their return to power, have step by step pushed women out of social life through the closure of girls’ schools, the removal of women from government offices, and severe restrictions on movement and dress.
Farida, another girl under a pseudonym, has also complained about this action by the Taliban and considers it the elimination of women from society.
“At this point, the only thing left is for the Taliban to come and say you are women, please do not breathe, because there is no other ban that has not been imposed on us for being women.”
While the Taliban are trying to present themselves on the international stage as a stable and negotiable government, the issuance of such decrees once again shows that there has been no change in the ideological nature of this group. The Taliban not only do not believe in gender equality but also consider the presence of women in any form a threat to their patriarchal order.
This comes as human rights organizations have previously described the Taliban’s bans against women and girls as a clear example of gender apartheid, and have warned about the intensification of restrictions against Afghan women. Nevertheless, the reaction of the international community has so far remained limited to official statements and expressions of concern, with no effective pressure being applied on the Taliban.
Meanwhile, women’s rights activists say that in a marketplace where women must remain silent even to express their basic needs, nothing remains of human dignity.
Sharara Karimi, one of the women’s rights activists, told Zan News: “With these bans the Taliban both undermine the dignity of women and imprison women within their decrees. In the system of this group, being a woman means being a prisoner, while the women themselves live abroad.”
The Taliban’s decree banning women’s voices is not just an administrative order; it is a political message: in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, a woman has no rights.
No right to education, no right to work, and now not even the right to speak in order to purchase their necessities from shops.
