The UN Women says in a report that nearly four years after the Taliban returned to power, nearly 80 percent of young women in Afghanistan are excluded from education, employment, or training opportunities.
The findings, released Tuesday by UN Women, are part of the 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, the most comprehensive assessment of women’s empowerment in the country since the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The report concludes that Afghanistan now has the second-widest gender gap in the world, with a 76 percent disparity between women and men across areas including health, education, financial access, and decision-making power.
The Index shows that Afghan women are, on average, achieving only 17 percent of their potential to access opportunities and exercise choice. The global average for women is 60.7 percent.
“Afghanistan’s greatest resource is its women and girls,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Their potential continues to be untapped, yet they persevere. Afghan women are supporting each other, running businesses, delivering aid, and speaking out against injustice. Their courage is reshaping communities in the face of immense restrictions.”
According to the report, developed with financial support from the European Union, 78 percent of Afghan women aged 15 to 24 are neither in school, employment, nor vocational training—nearly four times the rate for men in the same age group. Secondary school completion for girls is projected to collapse to zero in the near term, as bans on secondary and higher education, including medical studies, remain in place.
Women’s participation in the labor force remains among the lowest globally. Only 24 percent of women are engaged in paid work, compared with 89 percent of men. Those who do work are more likely to do so in informal or insecure settings, and at lower pay. Seventy-four percent of women report spending significant time on unpaid domestic work, compared to just 3 percent of men.
The report also highlights a deep financial divide: Afghan men are nearly three times more likely than women to have a bank account or use mobile money services.
Despite sweeping restrictions on women’s employment, the economic and humanitarian crises have pushed more women to seek work. By 2022, the number of women seeking employment had quadrupled compared to pre-2021 levels, while the number of working women had doubled.
Women remain entirely absent from the Taliban’s de facto cabinet and provincial administrations, the report notes, sharply limiting their ability to shape policies affecting their lives. Nonetheless, many continue to press for more inclusive governance and have found ways to raise concerns with officials at both national and local levels.
UN Women said the Gender Index aims to provide a framework for tracking progress—or decline—on gender equality in Afghanistan and to guide national and international responses to the worsening crisis.
UN Women said it will continue to work on the ground to ensure the priorities of Afghan women and girls are heard and that they are able to live in dignity and contribute to the country’s future.
