RASC News Agency: Makeup artists in Herat Province lament that the Taliban’s restrictions on makeup activities and the closure of salon doors have compelled them to resort to selling household items to secure life’s necessities. Some of these artists express that the Taliban not only stripped away their livelihood with these restrictions but also forced them to flee the country.
Attempting to conceal the lump in her throat, she battles tears welling up in the corners of her eyes, carrying a bitter tale. With a trembling voice, Zahra Jaafari, engaged in makeup artistry for over two decades in a corner of Herat Province, recounts her twenty-year achievements juxtaposed with the inability to provide a morsel of bread to fill her children’s stomachs. Lamenting the Taliban’s imposed restrictions, she reveals being forced to sell household belongings due to economic hardships and the salon prohibition.
“I am the sole breadwinner for my family as we have no other income. Life’s conditions are incredibly tough; my daughters cannot attend school or work and are afflicted with depression. Currently, I am compelled to sell jewelry and household items to make ends meet,” she adds. As she looks at her certificates and accolades, she criticizes the Taliban’s restrictions on women’s activities. Hundreds of struggling women, deprived of sustenance by salon closures, find themselves homebound, unable to meet basic needs.
Jaafari isn’t the only makeup artist facing economic difficulties and resorting to selling household items after the Taliban’s salon closures. Maryam Qasemi, another makeup artist, faces similar constraints, leading her to seek refuge in Iran amid economic hardships caused by the Taliban’s orders. Qasemi explains how she supported her nine-member family for several months by selling household items after the Taliban’s salon closure orders. However, after four months, she sought refuge in Iran, struggling to secure a work permit due to her Afghanistan nationality.
Masoumah Rahimi, representing the women’s makeup artist guild in Herat Province, discloses that over five thousand women lost their jobs and are now confined to their homes due to restrictions on women’s activities. Rahimi notes that many women, having pursued other professions before, turned to makeup artistry due to constraints, resulting in the loss of livelihood for over five thousand women in the profession.
Makeup artists in Herat Province find themselves either forced to sell household items or compelled to leave the country since July 3, when the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the Taliban group ordered the closure of salon doors. According to Hedir Bar, deputy head of the women’s rights section of Human Rights Watch, over sixty thousand women across Afghanistan lost their jobs due to this decree.
