Parts of this article (those related to events after the Taliban return to power) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2020)
Women in Afghanistan
Group of women in Kabul, 2006
Postage stamp of Afghanistan from 1963, depicting an Afghan woman in folk clothing
General Statistics
Maternal mortality (per 100,000)
152 (2020)
Women in parliament
0.0% (2022)
Women over 25 with secondary education
30% (2018)
Women in labour force
21.62% (2020)[1]
Gender Inequality Index[2]
Value
0.678 (2021)
Rank
167th out of 191
Global Gender Gap Index[3]
Value
0.435 (2022)
Rank
146th out of 146
Women's rights in Afghanistan have oscillated back and forth depending on the time period as well as the regime in power. After King Amanullah Khan's attempts to modernize the country in the 1920s, women officially gained equality under the 1964 Constitution.[4] However, these rights were taken away in the 1990s through different temporary rulers such as the mujahideen and the Taliban during the Afghan civil war. During the first Taliban regime (1996–2001), women had very little to no freedom, specifically in terms of civil liberties. When the Taliban was overthrown by the United States following the 9/11 attacks, women's rights gradually improved under the presidential Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.[5][6][7][8][9] Women were de jure equal to men under the 2004 Constitution.[10][11][12]
After the Taliban seized power again in August 2021, it imposed severe restrictions on women. Women are barred from traveling more than 70 kilometres (40 mi) without a close male relative and mandated to wear face coverings in public in a way which reveals only their eyes. They are not allowed to work in most sectors outside of health and education. They are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities. Women are severely restricted from public spaces in the country as they are not allowed in parks and gyms, and the country's beauty salons, mostly run by women, were ordered to be shut down by the government in July 2023.[13][14][15][16]
^"Labour force participation rate, female".
^"Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORTS. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^"Global Gender Gap Report 2022" (PDF). World Economic Forum. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
^"An introduction to the constitutional law of Afghanistan" (PDF). Retrieved 5 December 2019.
^Cite error: The named reference MT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Afghan Girl Wins Reality Show For The First Time was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference Al Jazeera English was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference UNDP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Cite error: The named reference NG was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Sultan, Masuda (14 January 2004). "Afghan Constitution a Partial Victory for Women". Women's eNews. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
^"Women in Afghanistan - Norwegian Afghanistan Committee". www.afghanistan.no. Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
^Farrah Azeem Khan (5 December 2018). "2018 Survey of Afghan People Shows Women's Rights are Complicated". Asia Foundation. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
^"Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from universities amid condemnation". BBC News. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
^"Taliban prohibit university educations for Afghan women in latest revocation of rights". France 24. 20 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
^Faulkner, Charlie (22 December 2022). "Taliban ban all Afghan women from university and girls from primary school". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
^Yong, Nicholas (4 July 2023). "Taliban order Afghanistan's hair and beauty salons to shut". BBC. SIngapore. Archived from the original on 4 July 2023. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
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Global Information
