In secret fitness clubs, how do women in Afghanistan fight the Taliban’s oppression?

Hidden in the basement of a private home in the Afghan capital, Kabul, lies gym coach Leila Ahmad, where a group of women take a secret training class – together, with opaque windows, and no loud music as women arrive from a back door. The move to set up underground gyms came after the Taliban barred women from entering gyms and parks last November, in the latest crackdown in a gradual erosion of their freedoms that has led to swift international condemnation.

Secret gyms

But Leila, a divorcee, 41, who has bodybuilding and yoga qualifications, remains defiant. “Women can’t go to restaurants and cultural events themselves anymore, or even walk alone in the park, so these underground gyms are a beacon of hope for us,” she said. Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have closed girls’ secondary schools. The Taliban have barred women from most jobs and strictly restricted their dress and movement. The UN says the extremist group’s treatment of women can amount to a crime against humanity. The Taliban rejects the claim, saying they respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law, which is not true, the Associated Press reported.

Across the country, some women are circumventing rules to open underground businesses — from schools to beauty parlors and gyms, the U.S. agency said, and Layla’s clients include former U.N. and government employees, teachers, policewomen, journalists and businesswomen, “It’s the only place where they can relate to their past and feel alive,” said Leila. “Going to the gym is like a cure, even though we can’t play music, we still dance – but now we dance to the sound of headphones.”

Threat of Punishment

Gyms equipped with high-tech gadgets, plasma screens and stunning soundtracks began to be popular with educated and professional women in more developed cities a decade ago, according to the Associated Press. By offering lessons on everything from exercise to zumba, a Latino dance, it boosted women’s confidence, provided a meeting place where they could socialize and hold parties, and in some parts of Kabul, women could walk to the gym in a legging and a baggy shirt. But not anymore; Ahmed’s clients arrive with their full veil, and their sports supplies are hidden in bags.

Some families consider the gym to be a waste of money amid the country’s crippling economic crisis, while others in the deeply patriarchal community believe that the gyms, body-hugging sports and pop music that go along with it are immoral Western importers. “We are not only fighting the anti-women Taliban regime, but the anti-feminist culture within Afghan society,” Leila said.

The US agency added that it was not clear what sanctions women could face, but the Taliban recently resumed public flogging, a feature of their previous rule from 1996 to 2001. “We are afraid now,” Leila said. But of course, we can see fear in each other’s eyes.”