For the past eight years, Marzia Reyazee has supported her family with earnings from her female-only beauty salon in Afghanistan, a business she spent more than $18,000 (now about R323,000) setting up.
But the 34-year-old mother of two is likely to find herself without her business and with few other prospects for a livelihood when the Taliban's order to close women's beauty salons comes into effect on July 25.
“We can't work here, we can't feed our family, we need to work,” she said. Like many women in Afghanistan's beauty services sector, Reyazee is the main breadwinner in her family.
The ban is the latest in a series of restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women since it took control of the country two years ago during the chaotic withdrawal of US troops.
More than 60,000 women are likely to lose their jobs and 12,000 beauty businesses are likely to shut, according to industry estimates, putting further strain on an economy already in crisis.
“It will disproportionately impact female entrepreneurs, which is a setback for resilience, poverty reduction and economic recovery,” Roza Otunbayeva, the UN secretary-general's special representative in Afghanistan, said.
Day by day, the Taliban is trying to eliminate women from society. We are also human beings
A spokesperson for the Taliban did not respond to requests for comment.
The ban will also create a “significant” decrease in women's employment, said the International Labour Organisation (ILO). During the rule of Afghanistan's foreign-backed government, female participation in the formal workforce was only about 23%, according to the ILO.
In addition to offering the usual services, beauty salons provide many Afghan women with a safe, female-only space where they can meet outside their homes and without a male chaperone.
The Taliban administration said it respects women's rights in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan culture.
The ban, released on July 4 by the morality ministry, said it was based on an order from the supreme spiritual leader. Similar orders have led to the closure of high schools and universities to women and stopped many Afghan female aid staff from working, moves foreign officials said are hampering any steps towards the formal recognition of the Taliban administration.
With sanctions on the banking sector, a cut in development aid and looming drops in humanitarian funding, the Taliban has said it is focused on weaning the country off reliance on aid and boosting the economy through private-sector development.
Senior Taliban officials said they support the development of female-owned businesses and have allowed spaces for women at trade fairs. Otunbayeva, however, said the ban “goes against past commitments from the de facto authorities that they will support female entrepreneurship”.
Faced with rapidly diminishing options, dozens of women, mostly employees of beauty salons, staged a protest this week against the ban, a rare event since the Taliban clamped down on protests about the closure of universities to female students in December. The Taliban used water cannons and fired shots into the air to break up the demonstration, protesters said.
“Day by day, the Taliban is trying to eliminate women from society. We are also human beings,” said a makeup artist, her eyes filling with tears. She declined to be named due to concerns for her safety.
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