The Taliban Seek to Make Women Invisible

And the rest of the world just shrugs.

One of the most brutally misogynistic regimes in the world has gone even further in erasing women and girls from public life, forcing them into invisibility. In Afghanistan, the Taliban have ended education for girls after the sixth grade; kicked women out of universities; barred women from working; banned women from public parks, schools, and beauty salons; and made it all but impossible for women to even more through public space without a male guardian. Women accused of “adultery” — which can include women who are raped — can be flogged and publicly stoned to death.

And now they’ve decreed that women may not be seen or heard in public — their faces must be covered, and their voices silent at all times. Strict dress codes render women identical non-entities; with no face or other body parts visible, and with women barred from speaking, there is no way to tell one woman from another. They are interchangeable, unrecognizable, treated as sub-human. Women are not allowed to make eye contact with unrelated men. Taxi drivers cannot pick women up, unless they are traveling with male companions. Women cannot board buses or airplanes alone.

The modesty requirements for men are a little different: They must be covered from their navels to their knees. They can, of course, travel freely.