THE Taliban are restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and healthcare if they are unmarried or don’t have a male guardian, according to a United Nations report published today.

In one reported incident, officials from the Vice and Virtue Ministry advised a woman to get married if she wanted to keep her job at a healthcare facility, saying it was inappropriate for an unwed woman to work.

The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade.

In May 2022, the Taliban issued a decree calling for women to only show their eyes and recommending they wear the head-to-toe burqa, similar to restrictions during the Taliban’s previous rule between 1996 and 2001.

There are no official laws about male guardianship in Afghanistan, but the Taliban has said women cannot move around or travel a certain distance without a man who is related to her by blood or marriage.

Nobody from the Vice and Virtue Ministry was immediately available for comment on the UN report.