Taliban authorities banned all beauty salons in Afghanistan on Tuesday after the expiration of a one-month period for owners to close the businesses. This move is leaving tens of thousands of women without work in a country fighting poverty. When the Taliban returned to power two years ago they have placed restrictions on women's rights, banning them from education, public spaces and most employments. Beauty salons was one of the few remaining opportunities for Afghan women to socialise and to support their households. Around 12,000 female-run salons, including 3,000 in the capital of Kabul, will be shut down. According to an Afghan association of the owners, this will cause unemployments of 60,000 women. Last week, Taliban security forces fired shots into the air and used fire hoses in the capital city of Kabul to forcefully disperse dozens of women who were protesting the ban. "The Taliban ban on beauty parlors removes another vital space for women's work at a time when they're struggling to feed their families, eliminates one of the few refuges for women outside the home & further transforms the country into a cruel & extreme outlier in the world," said Rina Amiri, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan women, girls and rights.
