Taliban ban women from going to gyms

FILE, Faima, 17, left, an Afghan girl practices her defense stance in the gym at Ghazi Stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007. The Taliban are banning women from using gyms in Afghanistan, an official in Kabul said Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE, Faima, 17, left, an Afghan girl practices her defense stance in the gym at Ghazi Stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007. The Taliban are banning women from using gyms in Afghanistan, an official in Kabul said Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022(AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

The Taliban are banning women from using gyms in Afghanistan, an official in Kabul says, the religious group’s latest edict cracking down on women’s rights and freedoms since they took power more than a year ago.

The Taliban overran the country last year, seizing power in August 2021. They have banned girls from middle school and high school, despite initial promises to the contrary, restricted women from most fields of employment, and ordered them to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice says the ban was being introduced because people were ignoring gender segregation orders and that women were not wearing the required headscarf, or hijab. Women are also banned from parks.

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