Reporter: Mahya Omid
Translator: Rostam Safdari
When the Taliban ordered the closure of all women’s beauty salons in August 2023, thousands of women lost their income overnight. Many were the only providers for their families. With no other way to earn money, they continued working in secret. Every day they face the risk of arrest, intimidation and violence.
Afghanistan Women’s Voice interviewed several women makeup artists to understand how they continue their work in secret after the ban. Their stories show the fear, pressure and danger they face each day.
Zainab, 38, turned a small room in her home into a hidden salon. “My family was terrified,” she says. “They did not want me to work in hiding, but we had no choice. My husband is sick and cannot work.”
For the next two years, she received clients quietly and moved with caution. But secrecy did not mean safety. “A few weeks ago, I was getting several clients ready when I heard shouting,” she recalls. “People were saying the Taliban had arrived. I hid in the bathroom, and the women ran in different directions.”
The next day, Taliban intelligence summoned her. She was detained and accused of disobeying the order of the Amir al Mu’minin. “The prison was terrifying,” she says. “There were many makeup artists there. I spent the night in the cell and they released me the next afternoon.”
She was freed after elders and a few Taliban members intervened. She had to sign a pledge saying she would stop working. But Zainab says she cannot. “I have to support my family. Now clients call me and I go from house to house.”
The Taliban ban is believed to have erased about sixty thousand jobs for women. According to the Afghanistan Women’s Industry and Trade Union, almost twelve thousand salons have been closed across the country. Owners, workers and trainees have been left with no income.
Fahima, 45, worked as a makeup artist for more than seventeen years. She supported a family of eight. Before the ban, she ran a busy salon in central Kabul. “I had just renovated the salon and spent a lot of money,” she says. “I had seven or eight trainees, most of them schoolgirls, and we were three makeup artists. We all lived from this work. Now we are all unemployed.”
After the closures she stayed home. Her husband did not let her work secretly because he feared the consequences. “My husband says the Taliban will not only take you, but they will take me too. It would be a disgrace,” she says. “Now I do housework from morning to night. I have no income at all.”
Many makeup artists say they will have to keep working in secret as long as the Taliban remain in power. They face the threat of arrest and violence but say they cannot stop. Their families depend on them.
Wahida, 50, from Herat, has worked as a makeup artist for more than thirty years. Before the ban, she had a stable income. “I used to charge more than ten thousand afghanis for bridal preparation,” she says. “Now I work for three to four thousand because I must support my family.”
After the closures, Wahida began receiving clients at home. She tries to avoid attention in every way. She knows she could be detained, but she says she has no other choice. “If I do not work, we cannot pay for our living expenses.”
Many young women who lost access to school had hoped to learn beauty work. Rukhsar, 20, had fallen into depression after her school closed. A friend encouraged her to join a salon as an apprentice. “The environment was warm and friendly,” she says. “We worked with brides all day. There was no pay at first. We had to work for a year before getting a salary. But I was happy because I was learning.”
After the ban, her father refused to let her work in secret. She now stays home and passes the time with embroidery.
Note: To protect the identity and safety of those interviewed, pseudonyms have been used.
Note: The photo is from the Internet
