Taliban bans women from gyms, public baths

Kabul: Taliban informed on Sunday that gyms and public baths had been made forbidden for women in Afghanistan. The new ban is after women were banned from parks and funfairs, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Taliban Ministry of Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue told AFP that gyms were closed because trainers there were males and some were combined gyms.

Further, a ministry spokesperson explained that since every house has a bathroom, there won't be any need for women to use public bathrooms or "hammams".

AFP reports that an unverified video features a group of women lamenting the ban on gyms. They said that their gym was women's only and teachers and trainers were also women.

"You can't just ban us from everything. Do we not have the right to anything at all?" AFP quoted from the video.

Though the Taliban had promised leniency in the case of women's rights, women are being removed from public life step by step.

A majority of women workers lost their jobs or were paid a pittance to stay at home. They were forbidden from travelling alone but with a male relative and were mandated to cover up with a burqa or hijab in the open.

After the militant group's ascent to power in August last year, schools for teenage girls were mostly shut across the country.

Activists argue that the increased restrictions are to prevent women from gathering and organising to overthrow the Taliban rule.

There were flash protests staged by women in Kabul as well as other cities. Those were risky, and some were caught, beaten and detained

Earlier this month, the Taliban intervened in a press conference in Kabul, subjected women participants there to body searching and detained the event organiser along with others. The United Nations raised its concerns after the incident.