Afghan women become YouTubers as Taliban restrict work
Setaish Hayat says making YouTube videos at home is the next best thing in Afghanistan where Taliban edicts have increasingly confined women indoors.
Hayat, 21, was a budding actor in local film and television until the Taliban seized power in 2021 and began issuing decrees on women that included banning TV dramas with female actors and ordering women to wear strict hijab while presenting the news.
Now Hayat creates about 30 videos a month — on topics from cooking, fashion and make-up, to skits with her family — making her one of the most successful of a growing number of women in Afghanistan going online in search of a living.
«We do not use any special equipment like cameras, lights, cranes or fancy props. We record programmes on our phones,» said Hayat, whose YouTube channel has garnered more than 20,000 subscribers since its launch last September.
Hayat said she had faced hostility for her channel and so wears a medical mask and sunglasses for her safety when she sometimes films outside.
«It is very challenging for girls and women who work outside the home, especially those who appear on camera and make YouTube content,» Hayat told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Kabul.
Hayat declined to say how much she earned, but said it was enough to support her family.
International sanctions have severely limited transactions with Afghan banks, so most YouTube content creators had friends abroad pass on earnings via money-transfer companies.
Hayat said
