Unheard, unseen, off air: Afghan law could erase women in media

• Taliban bans women speaking in public
• Women journalists fear for their jobs
• UN warns of devastating consequences 

Afghanistan's draconian new "morality law", which bans women from speaking in public, could force them out of the media and silence those offering hope to girls already shut out of schools and studying at home, journalists and U.N. experts say.

Women presenters and journalists - many with families who depend on their earnings - fear they could lose their jobs after Taliban leaders said women's voices were "intimate" and could lead to vice.

The new law, which has triggered international outrage, also states women must cover their faces in public and bans the publishing of images of "living beings", casting doubts over the wider future of television in the country.

"I'm deeply shocked," one journalist in Afghanistan told Context.

"First, they deprive women of education by closing girls' schools, and now they want to silence women in society altogether. It's a symbolic violence."

The journalist, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, said the law would make it very hard to conduct interviews and would force female presenters to quit their jobs.

Educational programmes aimed at teenage girls - who have been banned from school since the Taliban seized power in 2021 - might also have to stop if the rules are applied to the female teachers and presenters who front them, she said. 

U.N. officials say the law, published by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in August, has not been fully implemented, but they are closely monitoring the situation.

"The potential consequences would be devastating," said Guilherme Canela, who heads UNESCO's section for freedom of expression and safety of journalists.

"Women could completely disappear from the media, and the public sphere, in the worst-case scenario. How do you discuss issues relevant to society, and women in particular, if you don't have women involved in the conversation?"

Broadcasts suspended

Canela said it was hard to see how television could operate at all if the rule banning the portrayal of living beings was enforced.

The implications would be "absolutely massive", he said,  particularly given television's role in providing critical information in a country with limited internet access.

Canela pointed to coverage of last year's earthquake in northern Afghanistan, which had provided life-saving information and included televised interviews with emergency and health workers. Such broadcasts would fall foul of the new rules.   

Although the law has not been enforced on the media nationally, there are reports that the Taliban have suspended some broadcasts by a TV channel in the southern province of Kandahar, home to the movement's supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. 

Taliban officials - who say they respect women's rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law - did not reply to a request for comment.

The latest restrictions follow a slew of pronouncements that have already barred women from university and most jobs, limited their freedom of movement and banished them from public spaces.

Although the media is one of the few sectors where women can still work, strict rules mean many have been forced out of news reporting and increasingly operate behind the scenes.

Canela said 80% of women journalists had lost their jobs since the Taliban took over.

Women journalists are not allowed to interview men, be interviewed by men or share office space with men. They also need a male guardian to accompany them for most travel.

The plethora of repressive edicts has also stifled women's participation in the media in other ways with fewer and fewer willing to be interviewed or filmed.

Job loss fears

Although some women still work as presenters, they have to cover their faces and mostly anchor morning shows rather than news programmes.

"Every day, I worry about what will happen to me if this (new) law is enforced," said one presenter, who withheld her name due to safety concerns.

"This will not only impact us socially, but also financially. The Taliban don't seem to care how journalists' families will manage their living expenses. It's a great concern for many of us."

Media entrepreneur Hamida Aman also highlighted fears the new law could impact educational programming.

A number of TV and radio outlets have begun broadcasting educational content since the Taliban takeover using women teachers, journalists and presenters.  

Aman who set up Radio Begum, which provides on-air schooling for girls stuck at home, said staff were concerned for their jobs.

"Most are the breadwinners in their families," she said.

(Reporing by Emma Batha and Orooj Hakimi; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)