Afghanistan: The Taliban also ban gyms and public baths for women

Gyms and even public baths are now banned for Afghan women, we learned on Sunday from Taliban officials who had already recently announced their exclusion from the capital’s parks and gardens.

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“Gyms are closed to women because their trainers are men and some [des salles] are mixed,” Mohammad Akif Sadeq Mohazir, spokesman for the Ministry of Vice Prevention and Promotion of Virtue, told AFP on Sunday.

Hamams, traditionally separate for men and women, are also prohibited for the latter, even public baths.

“Every house now has a bathroom, so women don’t have a problem,” he said.

A video clip circulating on social media – which was not immediately confirmed – shows a group of women with their backs to the camera lamenting the ban on gyms. “This is a women’s gym. All the teachers and coaches are women,” laments one of them.

“You can’t ban us at all,” said the young woman, her voice breaking with emotion.

Despite promises to be more liberal when they take power in August 2021, the Taliban have largely reverted to the strictest interpretation of Islam, which during their first term in power (1996-2001), severely restricted women’s rights and freedoms.

Secondary schools for girls were closed and they were ordered to wear the full veil. Excluded from most government jobs, women could not travel alone outside their town. Earlier this week, the Taliban announced that they were no longer allowed to visit parks and gardens in Kabul.

Activists say the increasing restrictions on women are aimed at preventing them from gathering to organize opposition to the Taliban regime.

Small groups of women staged several flash protests in Kabul and other major cities, drawing the ire of Taliban officials. These meetings are usually violently dispersed and women who participate are arrested.

Earlier this month, the United Nations expressed “concern” after the Taliban disrupted a press conference held by a women’s organization in the capital. Participants were subjected to body searches and several people were arrested, along with the event organizer.