How Afghan women have lost their last faint voice

In Homer's Odyssey, there is the first record of a woman being silenced. In one scene, Telemachus, the son and Penelope, tells his mother: “Go inside the house and do your own work (â€æ). The story will be in the care of men, and above all in my care. It is mine, therefore, to rule the house”.

Years have passed. Women have come out of their homes, raised their voices for their rights, and claimed their rightful place. But, not in Afghanistan, which moves with its back turned to the future. Under new vice laws, the Taliban have banned women from speaking completely in public spaces. Neither can women's audio be aired.

These new laws have also asked women to ensure they cover all of their bodies and face. After turning women shapeless, they are now throttling the last of their identity assertion -- their voice.

WHY AUDIBILITY IS IDENTITY AND IDENTITY IS AUDIBILITY

These rules received the nod of Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, and were announced on August 21. These are some of the strictest laws against women in Afghanistan since the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021.

“Inshallah, we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,” said Ministry spokesperson Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq to The Associated Press.

This is a complete airbrushing of the existence of women from Afghanistan.

Through our audibility, we express ourselves, and, in turn, shape our identity. A complete crackdown on the voices of women is a complete dismantling of their identity.

"One attribute unique to the human experience and yet unifying for humanity is the ability to speak, to have a voice representative of who we are and recognisable by its quality. The voice, the ability to verbalise the longings and wishes of the heart, is intricately tied to our understanding of human identity. It is an identifying feature of our self and our identity as both a human and an individual," writes Kali Lauren Oldacre in her research paper, discussing women and their voices.

Each thing that is being said then becomes a larger part of our identity.

"Our voice is uniquely our own, and therefore, when it is taken, silenced, or ignored, our identity cannot be clearly represented or expressed; we are not clearly representing our Self," writes Oldacre.

WOMEN AND THEIR VOICES HAVE A HISTORY

Even in the US, women crafted a space for themselves with more education. In 2016, 42% of these women held a Bachelor’s or higher degree compared with just 11% in 1970.

With education, and eventually entry into workspaces, their voices began to be heard in more and more public spaces.

American essayist and critic, Rebecca Solnit wrote in her memoir, 'Recollections of Non-Existence' about the intricacies of having a voice and the three essential elements in it.

Audibility, credibility and consequence.

"Audibility means that you can be heard, that you have not been pressed into silence or kept out of the areas where you can speak or write or denied the ability to do so, or in the age of social media, been harassed and threatened and driven off the platform as so many have," wrote Solnit.

Then audibility or our voices being heard becomes an important element.

PROMOTING VIRTUE, CURBING VOICES: BODY COVERED, VOICES GONE

Across the world and even in history, women's voices have been silenced through comments, harassment and even violence.

“Whether it is hateful speech, sexist comments, sexual harassment or physical assault, violence targeting women leaders is a top deterrent to equal participation in public and political life,” said Rebecca Solnit.

But the Taliban have codified this suppression of women's voices in its laws.

This is a part of a 114-page and 35-article document released by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. This ministry has been put in place to enforce Islamic laws in Afghanistan.

This is the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws.

This silencing is in no way sudden.

Article 13 of this new law already took care of erasures of women's identity under the Taliban regime. It enforces covering women's bodies completely.

All this, to avoid "temptation".

Singing, another form of a woman's voice, has also been prohibited completely. This comes from the perception that a woman's voice is a private affair not to be made public.

All parts of a woman's personhood and identity are being erased slowly. In the Taliban regime, the streets and the nation might not even see traces of a woman walking with some sense of identity.

These erasures are now taking a toll.

“There is no income, no job opportunities for me. I don’t know how I’m going to survive," Zulaikha, a 25-years-old living under the Afghan Taliban regime told the NYT.

PUSHED INTO A TIGHTER CORNER, LIKE SOLITARY CONFINEMENT

"Day after day, I’m getting pushed into a tighter corner. Life has become solitary confinement," Marjan, a 23-year-old journalist, told The New York Times.

The Taliban also forbade women from looking at men who were not from their family. Women are also not allowed to speak to men in public.

"A lot of these rules were in place already but less formally, and now they are being formalised I think this is a sign of what we've been seeing over the last three years, which is a steady and gradual escalation of the crackdown," said Heather Barr, Associate Director of Human Rights Watch's Women's Rights Division.

Such measures by the Taliban have raised concerns across the world.

Last month, a UN report showed concerns regarding a fear-inducing atmosphere amongst Afghans, reported CNN.

"Given the multiple issues outlined in the report, the position expressed by the de facto authorities that this oversight will be increasing and expanding gives cause for significant concern for all Afghans, especially women and girls,” said Fiona Frazer, the head of the human rights service at the U.N. mission in Afghanistan.

In a UN meeting, concerns were raised over the Taliban's treatment of women and how they encroached on women's human rights.

Since the Taliban came back to power, girls have been barred from schools and women from universities. Women also cannot work in aid agencies. Salons are closed. Women cannot visit parks or even travel alone in the absence of a man, reported Reuters.

After turning women into formless creatures, covered from head to toe. The Taliban have now taken away the last of women's identities, their voice. Afghan women have since long lost their voice. Now, even their audio won't be heard. They have truly been silenced.