4.4.5. Access to employment

Table of contents

4.4.5. Access to employment

Unlike the 1990s, the de facto authorities have not outright banned paid employment for women.1345 Women have however faced limitations in pursuing various professions,1346 and working women have been impacted by the general restrictions on them.1347 Women public officials working for the previous government were instructed to stay home after the Taliban takeover,1348 with exceptions in areas such as education, healthcare and certain security institutions.1349 Reportedly some women still work at airports and as security in detention facilities,1350 and UNAMA noted that there were female de facto MPVPV inspectors in the provincial capital of Baghlan.1351 Some women still work in the de facto Directorate General of Passports,1352 and additionally, as reported by Amu tv, the de facto MoI also mentioned women working in public services, and checkpoints.1353 UN OHCHR noted that ‘some limited peripheral functions within the de facto administration were also permitted’.1354 Reportedly, women could still work in the banking sector.1355 In June 2024, salaries of female government employees and school teachers were cut to 5 000 afghanis.1356 A letter later clarified that this applied only to women civil servants who remained at home at the de facto authorities’ request.1357 Zan Times and Amu TV reported that hundreds of female professors were dismissed in May 2025.1358

Women have been banned from working in international and national NGOs since December 2022, and for the UN since April 2023. Most foreign embassies were also informed in April 2023 that Afghan women could no longer work in their offices, as reported by the UN.1359 Many NGOs reported that exemptions on the ban were negotiated with local authorities for women working in health, nutrition and education sectors.1360 Since the Morality law, there has been a general increase in the enforcement of restrictions for NGOs.1361 In December 2024, the de facto Ministry of Economy disseminated a letter reiterating the 24 December 2022 ban of women working for domestic and international NGOs,1362 warning that NGOs not complying would lose their license to operate in Afghanistan.1363 In reaction to this, some NGOs stopped recruiting Afghan women, as recorded by the Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group.1364 In some provinces, women’s applications for work permits related to employment in NGOs were denied, as reported by UNAMA.1365 A survey by UN Women of 2025 found that the ban on women NGO workers has intensified.1366 Some NGOs advised their female staff to work from home, whereas others continued to allow them to work from offices where gender-segregated facilities were available and where exemptions to the decree applied.1367 In May 2025, dozens of Afghan women received death threats in relation to their work for UN agencies,1368 resulting in interim measures by the UN to protect their safety,1369 such as working from home.1370 In September 2025, Afghan women, including local staff and contractors, were prevented from entering UN compounds by de facto security officials.1371

Women in other professions have also been impacted, including former women security personnel who lost their jobs amid the Taliban takeover,1372 and women lawyers and judges who have been barred from practicing.1373 Women journalists have been facing severe restrictions and it is estimated that around 80 % of female journalists have left Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.1374 The number of female teachers has also decreased due to the restrictions on secondary education for girls, on women teaching male students and other restrictions targeting women and girls.1375 In July 2023, the de facto authorities ordered beauty salons to shut down.1376 Several beauty salons have however continued to operate underground, but in 2025, the de facto authorities conducted house-to-house searches shutting down such salons, confiscating beauty products, and detaining women beauticians. Those arrested were later released after a warning or after they committed not to repeat the same act.1377

The private sector has been one of the few areas for women to work in.1378 Home-based self-employment and small-scale economic activities1379 have become the predominant form of employment among women in Afghanistan.1380 The de facto authorities highlight their support for women-led businesses, but have at the same time restricted women entrepreneurs.1381 For instance, the de facto authorities have ordered the closure of women-run shops in some provinces,1382 and have barred women from participating in some trade fairs.1383 In November 2024, the de facto authorities have ordered the closure of all women‑only cafés in Herat.1384 Amid reports about the closure of women-markets in some areas,1385 for example in Kandahar Province,1386 in other places, women-markets are still in place.1387 Women in the private sector have also been impacted by general restrictions on them,1388 including travel restrictions,1389 having suppliers refusing to sell material to them,1390 and being requested to operate in a gender segregated environment and to cater to female consumers only.1391 Since the enactment of the Morality law, hurdles for businesswomen have increased.1392

According to reports, the lack of employment prospects has increasingly pushed more women living in the main cities to stroll the streets selling second-hand goods or simple food goods from carts.1393 In May 2024, the de facto authorities adopted anti-begging laws. Several women were arrested and detained under these laws and reportedly there have been cases of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence and verbal abuse by de facto officials.1394

  • 1345

    Bjelica J., What Do Young Afghan Women Do? A glimpse into everyday life after the bans, AAN, 17 August 2023, url

  • 1346

    UN Women, FAQs: Afghan women three years after the Taliban takeover, 12 August 2024, url; CARE, A ‘window

  • 1347

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, paras. 48-49; UNDP, Listening to Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan: Their Struggle and Resilience, 16 April 2024, url, p. 3

  • 1348

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, para. 27; Latifi, A., interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 9 October 2023

  • 1349

    AI, The State of the World's Human Rights, Afghanistan 2024, 29 April 2025, url; Rawadari, Afghanistan Human Rights Situation Report 2024, 19 March 2025, url, p. 33

  • 1350

    UN Human Rights Council, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 5 September 2025, url, p. 5

  • 1351

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 8

  • 1352

    Amu TV, Female employees in public offices face ‘severe restrictions’ by Taliban, 14 November 2024, url; Sweden, Migrationsverket, Afghanistan: Identitetshandlingar, 10 October 2025, url, p. 26

  • 1353

    Amu TV, Female employees in public offices face ‘severe restrictions’ by Taliban, 14 November 2024, url

  • 1354

    UN Human Rights Council, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 5 September 2025, url, p. 5

  • 1355

    SIGAR, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, 30 January 2025, url, p. 43

  • 1356

    AW, Confusion after Taliban decree to cap women's salaries, 16 July 2024, url; RFE/RL, 'Systematic Discrimination': Taliban's Drastic Cut In Salaries Of Female State Employees Triggers Anger, 18 June 2024, url

  • 1357

    Foschini F., Education in Hibernation: The end of a virtuous cycle of literacy and empowerment for women in Shughnan?, AAN, 19 September 2024, url

  • 1358

    Amu TV, Taliban dismiss hundreds of university professors across Afghanistan, sources say, 11 May 2025, url; Zan Times, Taliban dismisses hundreds of female professors from public universities in Afghanistan, 14 May 2025, url

  • 1359

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, paras. 47–48

  • 1360

    Clark K., Bans on women working, then and now: The dilemmas of delivering humanitarian aid during the first and second Islamic Emirates, AAN, April 2023, url, pp. 8, 9

  • 1361

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 12; UN Women, Tracking Impact Report on The Ban and Other Restrictions on Women for NGOs, INGOs and UN - Twelfth snapshot (June 2025), 15 July 2025, url

  • 1362

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: October-December 2024, 28 January 2025, url, p. 4; UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 20 February 2025, url, para. 98

  • 1363

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 20 February 2025, url, para. 98; Al Jazeera, Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers say will close all NGOs employing women, 30 December 2024, url

  • 1364

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 21 February 2025, url, p. 11

  • 1365

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: October-December 2024, 28 January 2025, url, p. 4

  • 1366

    UN Women, Gender alert: Four years of Taliban rule: Afghan women resist as restrictions tighten, 29 August 2025, url, p. 4

  • 1367

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 21 February 2025, url, para. 9

  • 1368

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: April-June 2025, 10 August 2025, url, p. 3; Amu tv, UN female staff in Kabul confined to homes following ‘Taliban threats’: Sources, 23 May 2025, url

  • 1369

    UN Human Rights Council, The situation of human rights in Afghanistan, 5 September 2025, url, p. 6

  • 1370

    Amu tv, UN female staff in Kabul confined to homes following ‘Taliban threats’: Sources, 23 May 2025, url

  • 1371

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: July-September 2025, 28 October 2025, url, p. 2; Amu TV, UN urges Taliban to lift ban on female staff access to its compounds, 12 September 2025, url

  • 1372

    Human Rights Watch, Double Betrayal, Abuses against Afghan Policewomen, Past and Present, 10 October 2024, url; Guardian (The), ‘I was a policewoman. Now I beg in the street’: life for Afghan women one year after the Taliban took power, 14 August 2022, url

  • 1373

    UN Human Rights Council, Access to justice and protection for women and girls and the impact of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, 16 June 2025, url, para. 39

  • 1374

    Afghanistan: “The Taliban Took All My Dreams Away”, Women’s exclusion from the Afghan media space has meant that issues critical to women go unreported, 2 May 2025, url; Human Rights Watch, Afghanistan: Taliban Tramples Media Freedom, 23 October 2025, url

  • 1375

    Foschini, F., Education in Hibernation: The end of a virtuous cycle of literacy and empowerment for women in

  • 1376

    USIP, Two Years of the Taliban’s ‘Gender Apartheid’ in Afghanistan, 14 September 2023, url; New York Times (The), Taliban Shut Beauty Salons, One of Afghan Women's Last Public Spaces, 25 July 2023, url

  • 1377

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 5 September 2025, url, p. 7; Amu TV, Beauticians say Taliban shut down dozens of home salons in Kabul, 8 August 2025, url; UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: April-June 2025, 10 August 2025, url, p. 3

  • 1378

    AW, The Erasure of Women, 15 August 2024, url, p. 9; AW, Taliban allegedly raid underground beauty parlours, 14 March 2025, url; Guardian (The), Taliban launch crackdown on Afghanistan’s secret beauty salons, 30 August 2025, url

  • 1379

    Small-scale economic activities include work as seamstress, make handicrafts, tend to livestock and engage in small-scale agriculture; UN Women, Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024, June 2024, url, p. 44

  • 1380

    UN Women, Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024, June 2024, url, p. 44; ACAPS, Afghanistan: barriers and enablers to self-employment for women, 12 February 2025, url, p. 1

  • 1381

    UNAMA, Report on the Implementation, Enforcement and Impact of the Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Afghanistan, 10 April 2025, url, p. 15; AW, The Erasure of Women, 15 August 2024, url, p. 9

  • 1383

    UNAMA, Update on the human rights situation in Afghanistan: October–December 2024, 28 January 2025, url, p. 3; UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 21 February 2025, url, p. 9

  • 1384

    RFE/RL, Four Years On, UN Says Taliban Close To 'Erasing' Afghan Women From Public Life, 14 August 2025, url; Amu tv, Taliban begin shutting down women-only cafes in Herat, 23 November 2024, url

  • 1385

    UN Women, Afghanistan Gender Country Profile 2024, June 2024, url, p. 45

  • 1386

    Afghan Times (The), From Livelihood to Silence: Taliban Crushes Women’s Work Behind Closed Doors, 18 June 2025, url; Pajhwok News, Kandahar women-only market closed, hundreds lose jobs, 7 January 2023, url

  • 1387

    UNDP, What Supporting Women-Led Businesses Really Means in Afghanistan, 13 May 2025, url

  • 1388

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, paras. 48-49; UNDP, Listening to Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan: Their Struggle and Resilience, 16 April 2024, url, p. 3

  • 1389

    UNDP, Listening to Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan: Their Struggle and Resilience, 16 April 2024, url, p. 8

  • 1390

    UN Human Rights Council, Situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, 15 June 2023, url, paras. 48-49; UNDP, Listening to Women Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan: Their Struggle and Resilience, 16 April 2024, url, p. 3

  • 1391

    Afghan analyst, interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 10 October 2023

  • 1392

    UN Security Council, The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security, 6 December 2024, url, para. 39

  • 1393

    Latifi, A., interview 8–9 June 2023, and email communication, 9 October 2023; Sadat S. A., and Shapour R., The Daily Hustle: Women take to street peddling to feed their families, AAN, 22 July 2023, url

  • 1394

    UN Human Rights Council, Access to justice and protection for women and girls and the impact of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, 16 June 2025, url, para. 56; Zan Times, Women arrested by Taliban for begging report rape and forced labour, 29 November 2024, url