Male presenters in the visual media protested after the restrictions were imposed on female presenters for covering their faces with masks. Male anchors protested by covering their faces with black masks.
The Taliban Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prohibition of Vice has ordered the visual media female presenters to wear black masks during their performance when on air.
The policy was earlier declared “final and non-negotiable” by the Ministry of Information and Culture.
In response to the Taliban’s restrictions, male presenters in masks appeared on TOLONews and 1TV.
Following the Taliban’s “mandatory hijab,” which received public outrage, the Taliban’s order for the female TV presenters also prompted widespread condemnation, and despite the protests, the Taliban warned that media officials and the guardians of the female presenters would be penalized if the order was disobeyed.
According to a tweet from TOLONews, the Taliban set the deadline for implementing this order, which has been implemented by this media, since yesterday, Sunday May 22.
Female presenters dressed in black and wearing black masks performed in TOLONews, yesterday, with only two eyes visible.
The Taliban ordered all women in public to wear head-to-toe clothes with only their eyes visible earlier this month. The edict said that women should only leave the house only “when necessary”, and that male relatives would be punished for women’s violating the dress code, beginning with a summons and advancing to court hearings and jail time.
Taliban leaders have also prohibited girls from attending school after sixth grade, reversing previous Taliban promises that girls of all ages would be permitted to attend school.
