The Taliban in Afghanistan ban women from Kabul parks and funfairs, months after ordering gender-based segregation.
The new rule was announced earlier this week, and seems to further erase women out of an ever-shrinking public space. “We are just bored and fed-up with being at home all day, our minds are tired,” an Afghan woman told AFP. Women had already been banned from travelling without a male escort and were forced to wear a hijab or burqa in all public spaces. Secondary schools for girls have also been shut for over a year across most of the country.
Under the previous law, women had been allowed to visit parks on three days every week – Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Now women won’t be allowed even if accompanied by male relatives.
“We’ve done this because in the past 15 months, despite our efforts, people have been going to the park and not respecting Sharia laws,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told the BBC.”The restriction is for all women, whether they are with or without a mahram [male escort].”
Since the ban on women includes their presence in amusement parks that usually have rides like bumper cars or a ferris wheel, most mothers will not be able to accompany their children to such parks anymore.
