#DoNotTouchMyClothes: Afghan women reject Taliban’s dress code for women

Afghan women have started an online campaign using the hashtag #DoNotTouchMyClothes to challenge the Taliban’s conservative female clothing rules. Many Afghan women shared pictures of their colourful traditional dresses.

Dr Bahar Jalali, a former history professor at the American University in Afghanistan, used hashtags #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture to reclaim Afghan women’s traditional clothes.

While posting a picture of herself on Twitter in a green Afghan dress, she stated: “This is Afghan culture. I am wearing a traditional Afghan dress.”

This is Afghan culture. I am wearing a traditional Afghan dress. #AfghanistanCulture pic.twitter.com/DrRzgyXPvm

— Bahar Jalali بهار جلالی (@RoxanaBahar1) September 12, 2021

Referring to the women who wore long, fully veiled black gowns, covering their faces and hands at pro-Taliban rally, she tweeted: “No woman has ever dressed like this in the history of Afghanistan. This is utterly foreign and alien to Afghan culture. I posted my pic in the traditional Afghan dress to inform, educate, and dispel the misinformation that is being propagated by the Taliban.”

No woman has ever dressed like this in the history of Afghanistan. This is utterly foreign and alien to Afghan culture. I posted my pic in the traditional Afghan dress to inform, educate, and dispel the misinformation that is being propagated by Taliban. https://t.co/jrp772jIKu

— Bahar Jalali بهار جلالی (@RoxanaBahar1) September 12, 2021

After that, women across Afghanistan started posting pictures of themselves.

I wear my traditional Afghan dress proudly.

It's colourful and beautiful.

Not at all like the images you saw circulating yesterday.

Thank you @RoxanaBahar1 who's encouraging us #AfghanWomen to share the beauty of #AfghanistanCulture. pic.twitter.com/OAyNhku78l

— Tahmina Aziz (@tahmina_aziz) September 12, 2021

This is Afghan culture. My traditional dress #AfghanWomen

Thank you to Dr @RoxanaBahar1 for the inspiration.

Our cultural attire is not the dementor outfits the Taliban have women wearing. pic.twitter.com/i9wFASfWR6

— Peymana Assad 🏔🇦🇫 (@Peymasad) September 12, 2021

Me wearing traditional Afghan attire in Kabul. This is Afghan culture and this is how Afghan women dress. @RoxanaBahar1 pic.twitter.com/fUZSqy4rRK

— Waslat Hasrat-Nazimi (@WasHasNaz) September 12, 2021

This campaign was also in reaction to a video in which many women holding a pro-Taliban rally in the capital were seen saying that Afghan women wearing make-up and in modern clothes do not represent the Muslim Afghan women and we don’t want women’s rights that are foreign, reports BBC.

Afghanistan’s Higher Education Minister Abdul Baqi Haqqani said that universities will be segregated and veils made mandatory for all female students. Earlier this month, the Taliban announced an all-male interim government.