Taliban bans women from gyms and parks, affecting children as well

Kabul: Afghanistan’s rulers are banning women from using gyms and parks, the Taliban’s latest edict cracking down on women’s rights and freedoms since they took power more than a year ago.

Since the religious group overran the country when the United States withdrew its troops in August 2021, it has repeatedly broken its promise to allow women to retain some rights conquered in the period between its two administrations.

It has banned girls from middle and high school, restricted women from most fields of employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

A Taliban fighter stands guard in an amusement park, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday. Women are now banned from parks and gyms as well.Credit: AP

A spokesman from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice said the new gym and park ban was being introduced because people were ignoring gender segregation orders and that women were not wearing the required headscarf, or hijab.

The ban came into force this week, according to Mohammed Akef Mohajer.

Afghan women stand outside an amusement park, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.Credit: AP

He claimed the Taliban had “tried its best” over the past 15 months to avoid closing parks and gyms for women, ordering separate days of the week for male and female access or imposing gender segregation.

“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.”

Taliban teams would begin monitoring establishments to check if women were still using them, he said.

A female personal trainer said women and men were not exercising or training together at the Kabul gym where she works.

“The Taliban are lying,” she insisted, speaking on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals. “We were training separately.”

A woman walks past a mural calling for women and children’s rights in Bamian, Afghanistan.Credit: Getty

She said two men claiming to be from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice entered her gym on Thursday and made all the women leave.

“The women wanted to protest about the gyms [closing] but the Taliban came and arrested them,” she added. “Now we don’t know if they’re alive or dead.”

Taliban-appointed Kabul police chief spokesman Khalid Zadran said he had no immediate information about women protesting gym closures or arrests.

The UN special representative in Afghanistan for women, Alison Davidian, condemned the ban. “This is yet another example of the Taliban’s continued and systematic erasure of women from public life,” she said. “We call on the Taliban to reinstate all rights and freedoms for women and girls.”

Hardliners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led administration, which struggles to govern and remains internationally isolated. An economic downturn has driven millions more Afghans into poverty and hunger as the flow of foreign aid has slowed to a trickle since the takeover.

Kabul-based women’s rights activist Sodaba Nazhand said the bans on gyms, parks, work, and school would leave many women wondering what was left for them in Afghanistan.

“It is not just a restriction for women, but also for children,” she said. “Children go to a park with their mothers, now children are also prevented from going to the park. It’s so sad and unfair.”

AP