Women’s Share of Afghan Labour Market Shrinks to 5% Under Taliban, UN Says
The share has fallen to 5.1% as Taliban restrictions and population growth leave women largely excluded from work, the ILO said.
- On Tuesday, the International Labour Organization reported that women comprise just 5% of Afghanistan's workforce, the second-lowest female labor force participation rate globally, behind only Yemen.
- The Taliban's 2021 return to power ended a 20-year period of economic liberty for women, as restrictions on education and employment have driven their "severe exclusion" from the workforce.
- Among young women, 84% are "not in education, employment or training," compared to 68% in 2019; women-owned businesses increased tenfold as alternatives to restricted professions.
- More than 6 million Afghans returned from Iran and Pakistan since 2023, straining the labor market; Tite Habiyakare, senior coordinator and head of the ILO Office for Afghanistan, said "Afghanistan cannot build a resilient labor market while such a large share of its population remains excluded."
- Inflation in Afghanistan surged from less than 1% in May 2025 to around 8% by May 2026, pressures that the ILO warned "disproportionately affect poorer households and reduce real earnings, particularly among informal workers.
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Women's participation in the Afghan labour force has fallen to only 5% since the Taliban regained power five years ago, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), which called for measures to address the severe exclusion of Afghans. Read also: Israeli air strikes reach military base in Syria; there are no victims, says state TV Trump's dispatch talks with Israel and Hamas end up unadvancedly in Gaza The rate of female participatio…
Women’s Labour Force Participation in Afghanistan Falls to 5.1%, ILO Says
Women’s participation in Afghanistan’s labour market has fallen to 5.1%, one of the lowest rates in the world, according to the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) latest assessment of the country’s labour market five years after the Taliban returned to power. The ILO said Afghanistan’s labour market has undergone major structural changes since 2021, with growing gender inequality, increased reliance on male employment and the exclusion of…
Women's share of Afghan labour market shrinks to 5% under Taliban, UN says
ILO Reports Sharp Decline in Afghan Women's Employment to 5%
Kabul (GNP): Women’s participation in Afghanistan’s labour force has fallen to just 5.1 percent under Taliban rule, placing the country among those with the lowest rates of female economic participation in the world, according to the International Labour Organisation. The UN agency said women’s employment has declined dramatically since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, creating profound structural changes in Afghanistan’s labour market and…
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