Afghanistan’s Beauty Industry Ban: A Crushing Blow To Women’s Economic Rights – OpEd
By Ali Mehar
It marked the start of a dark era for Afghan women when the Taliban retook Afghanistan in August 2021. In spite of global protest and assurances of an inclusive government, women in Afghanistan have seen hard-won rights being revoked from them, not least among them the role of women in public life. Perhaps the most well-publicized and economically important display of this regression has been the countrywide shutdown of beauty salons, an industry that had been an important source of income for thousands of women and their families for years.
To so many extents, the shutdown of beauty salons is representative of the Taliban’s overall policy of pushing women out of the public eye. It is not merely an assault on one industry; it is part of a larger, more insidious attempt to limit women’s visibility and economic independence in a very patriarchal culture. The beauty salon occupation was one of the last remaining available to Afghan women by which they could achieve financial independence, connect with other women, and earn money to support their families.
The Contribution of Beauty Salons to Women Empowerment
Before the ban, there were more than 12,000 beauty salons, with the majority owned by women entrepreneurs. The salons, serving primarily other women, offered basic services from haircutting to skin treatments. More importantly, they offered a wonderful platform for empowerment where women could socialize freely among themselves—unattended by male surveillance or interference. For women who filled a space drastically curtailing their public existence, beauty salons were places of friendliness, fantasy, and economic independence.
The salons also fueled local economies. The women working here were not merely workers—maids, technicians, and beauticians working for someone else—they were entrepreneurs, owners, and stylists in charge of their own economic fates. In a nation where the legitimate workforce is typically off-limits to women and male industries hold sway, beauty salons offered a work-around path to economic mobility.
The Ban: A Symbolic and Economic Retreat
In 2023, the Taliban closed beauty parlors across the country, one among numerous laws growing more restrictive to exclude women from public existence. Their grounds for closure were draped in rhetoric swearing to cut back on wasteful spending and uphold Islamic values. These assertions do not ring true when weighed against the broader trajectory of laws that have steadily excluded women from education, work, and mobility.
To most women, the beauty parlor was not only an office–it was a very limited avenue to economic empowerment. The closure hit thousands of families immediately, many of whom were driven to the black market, where they were forced to accept exploitative, unofficial terms of employment. In a country already battered by decades of economic devastation caused by war and political unrest, closing down the beauty shops sent an extremely clear message: feminine business and independence would not be tolerated.
The Informal Economy and Its Dangers
As mainstream avenues of employment were severed, most women have been compelled to seek employment in the informal economy in order to survive. Without protection from the law or the rights of labor, these occupations are at best insecure, subjecting women to harassment and abuse. Some have been forced to work from home, sew, teach, or operate small businesses in clandestine ways in an attempt not to be caught by the authorities. Such jobs are often low paying, insecure, and lacking altogether in the protections that cover legitimized labor.
Afghan women’s position in the work force is also complicated by the general economic breakdown the nation is undergoing. The removal of international assistance and shuttering of foreign-financed development bureaus has left many women without a way to reap economic benefit. Without capital, investment, or an open market, many female businesses—especially those involving beauty—have been scraping along.
Limited Choices in “Approved” Fields
On paper, the Taliban have opened up a few possibilities for women in some sectors, for example, “proper” spheres for women, i.e., education, medicine, and gender-segregated bazaars. This sort of employment is very limited, however. Women can only work in women’s schools or hospitals, and even these are subject to regulations: women need to be accompanied by a male sponsor when traveling, and are frequently locked into narrow, scripted roles. This very limited range of career possibilities does not much alleviate the overall unemployment problem for women in Afghanistan.
And, furthermore, the Taliban’s unstable and unpredictable policies regarding the hiring of women establish a climate of fear and insecurity. Women hired in the public sector are always in fear of losing their jobs at any given time and therefore do not have any job security. Many competent women—doctors, instructors, and entrepreneurs—are therefore not able to make a contribution to society.
The Digital Divide and Shrinking Economic Space
In striving to adjust to the less welcoming climate, Afghan women have resorted to cyberspace, setting up micro-enterprises or peddling goods on social media or messaging programs. The level of anonymity available in cyberspace provides women with a way of earning a livelihood without direct supervision by the Taliban leadership. This path is not without its pitfalls. Afghanistan’s technological infrastructure is typically non-reliable, and internet payment plans remain beyond the reach of most women, hence making online operations less viable. The weakening economy also implies fewer demands for such online products, further diminishing the likelihood of success.
The state’s stranglehold on social media and online forums has also led to more surveillance of online activity, subjecting women to censorship and surveillance. What was supposed to be a haven of safety from economic repression is now yet another space for women where their freedoms are strangled.
A Broader Struggle for Autonomy
It is much more than an economic issue-because it speaks to a concerning, disturbingly larger pattern in which the rights of Afghan women are systematically denied in regard to visibility and agency. The closures are a calculated attempt to make them economically dependent-the only way, really, to deny Afghanistan’s women one of the few mechanisms they have had to become independent in a seriously conflicted country.
In spite of all these limitations, Afghan women continue to struggle and survive. It is very dramatic what they do in the face of repressive policies, but unless there is greater international action and reform within the structure, their struggle for liberty will be an invisible, chronic war.
The world might look away from Afghanistan, but Afghan women’s situation worsens with each passing day. The dream of gender equality and economic independence of Afghan women will be a far-off dream as long as they are not given effective support, both from inside Afghanistan and outside, to make this dream a reality.
