Women’s share of Afghan labour market shrinks to 5% under Taliban, UN says

By Emma Farge

GENEVA, Aug 18 (Reuters) – The portion of women in Afghanistan’s workforce has fallen to just 5% since the Taliban takeover five years ago, according to the International Labour Organization, which called for measures to address their “severe exclusion”.

• Female labour force participation fell to less than a third of its previous level, to 5.1% in 2026 from 16.5% in 2020.

• In contrast, male employment has expanded rapidly, the ILO said.

• “Afghanistan cannot build a resilient labour market while such a large share of its population remains excluded from economic activity,” said Tite Habiyakare, senior coordinator and head of the ILO Office for Afghanistan.

• The report attributed the decline to Taliban restrictions curtailing women’s education and employment. Afghanistan has the second-lowest level of female employment in the world after Yemen, it said.

• However, the number of women’s businesses has increased ten-fold since the takeover because of their exclusion from many other professions, according to the U.N. Development Programme.

• Overall, Afghan employment increased by 14% from a 2022 low, reaching 8.5 million in 2026, the ILO said.

• However, it has not kept pace with rapid population growth amid large-scale returns of Afghans from neighbouring countries like Pakistan, the report said.

(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Rick Noack in Islamabad, Editing by Miranda Murray)