The treatment of women by the Taliban refers to actions and policies by various Taliban regimes which are either specific or highly commented upon, mostly due to discrimination, since they first took control in 1996. During their first rule of Afghanistan (1996–2001), the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. Since 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, nor were they allowed to be educated after the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban's laws. The Taliban allowed, and in some cases encouraged, marriage for girls under the age of 16. Amnesty International reported that 80 per cent of Afghan marriages were forced. After their takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban at first gender segregated classrooms in universities as long as they "followed Islamic standards". However, in September 2021, they only allowed boys to return to school, preventing most teenage girls from returning to secondary school education, and blocked women in Afghanistan from working in most sectors outside of health and education. Women have been ordered to wear face coverings in public, and barred from travelling more than without a close male relative. In July 2022, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's reclusive leader, lashed out at the criticism and demands of the international community on the Taliban's human rights restrictions, rejecting any negotiations or compromise on his "Islamic system" of governance. In December 2022, the Taliban government also prohibited university education for women and prevented them from working in NGOs. It was also reported that girls had been barred from primary education, though the Afghan Education Ministry has denied those reports. Gender policies From the age of eight onward, girls in Afghanistan were not allowed to be in direct contact with males other than a close "blood relative", husband, or in-law (see mahram). From September 1996 to December 2001, when the Taliban were in control of 90 per cent of Afghanistan, it imposed the following restrictions on women: Women should not appear in the streets