Hidden faces

The face of Afghan women is hidden, nullified by the burka, or on mannequins by plastic bags and tape. When the Taliban took over Kabul on 15 August 2021, women’s lives turned back to those of more than 20 years ago. Today, clothing-shop windows perfectly represent women’s reality in the country, where a Ministerial order forces the heads of mannequins to be covered, or even decapitated.

After American and nato forces retreated and left Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban took over the country once again. This brought back more fear as a the UN often reported a state of terror, caused by the moral police who have increased in power over the years. From this moment onwards, Afghan women lost all of their dreams.

The hiding of faces is a metaphor for the condition of women who are victims of freedom-destroying measures, such as the reintroduction of stoning for adultery, that do not bring about much horror in a patriarchal society like Afghanistan. The majority of governmental restrictions are directed to mothers, wives and daughters who are prohibited from any action: from walking in the streets alone, attending school or university, participating in an active life. Everything work-related is precluded, barring the health sector. It is a real gender apartheid, the isolation of women at home which is the only pace where female protests can be heard.

These restrictions also have heavy repercussions on an economy which is now in a state of “zero-growth”, amidst an ever-problematic humanitarian crisis which lacks support and developmental aid, as this government is not recognized in the international community. At least one-third of the over 40 million Afghan people, crushed by poverty, climate change and natural disasters such as the 2022 and 2023 earthquakes, relies on bread, water and tea as its only chance of survival.

No country can progress if half of its population is segregated, says unesco, as it warned some time ago that the Taliban are putting a whole generation at risk with their repression of women. (Francesca Sabatinelli)