Originally published 2022-05-28.
Compliance under an order is different from personal preference
The report describes a requirement imposed on broadcasters and the reactions of women working on air. Their statements help explain the practical effect on presenting news. Observing that a presenter complied should not be taken as evidence that she supported the rule, and anonymous testimony should not be accompanied by clues that expose its source.
The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan enforced the rule described in this May 2022 account, according to which, all female TV news presenters are required to wear face coverings while on air. The new policy has sparked rage across the world.
Although only half of the news outlets initially complied with the new rule, eventually, most female presenters wore face coverings in compliance with the Taliban's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
The new rule is "final and non-negotiable" according to an announcement by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
A TV presenter working at Tolo News, Sonia Niazi, said:
"It is just an outside culture imposed on us forcing us to wear a mask and that can create a problem for us while presenting our programmes."
A media official said that his station was forced to implement the order after being notified that it was not up for discussion. His condition for sharing this information was that he and his station remain anonymous, as he is scared of retribution by the Taliban.
[Based on reporting by: The Guardian]
How the order was enforced, and the laws that followed
The Vice and Virtue Ministry began enforcing the order on Sunday, 22 May 2022, and most female anchors then appeared with their faces covered; the Taliban said medical masks were acceptable. Male staff at TOLOnews, including the main evening newsreader, wore masks on air in solidarity. “This decree is unpredictable for all female presenters because Islam has not commanded us to cover our faces,” Sonia Niazi said. Earlier that month the Taliban had ordered women to cover themselves in public so that only their eyes showed.
On 21 August 2024 the Taliban issued their first formal vice and virtue laws since taking power in 2021, approved by the supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The 114-page document requires women to cover their bodies and faces in public, treats a woman’s voice as intimate so that women may not sing, recite or read aloud in public, and bans the publication of images of living beings, a threat to Afghanistan’s already fragile media.
Sources: Al Jazeera, 22 May 2022: Taliban enforces order for Afghan women TV anchors to cover faces Associated Press (via WDIV), 22 August 2024: The Taliban publish vice laws that ban women’s voices and bare faces in public
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