Frozan Ahmadzai should have graduated from university this year. She wanted to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor. Instead, she’s sewing in a basement in Kabul and making pickles.
The militant group called the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan three years ago, and the nation’s economy “remains in a dismal state,” according to Afghanistan expert William Byrd. He says the economy suffers from “depression-level price deflation, high unemployment, and a collapse of GDP” (or gross domestic product, a measure of goods and services).
Byrd and others agree that Afghanistan could turn its money woes around. But that would involve allowing women in the workforce. Most analysts call such a reversal “unlikely.”
Last year, a top UN official called Afghanistan the most repressive country in the world for women and girls. The Taliban denies females—about half the population—the freedom to work in all but a few jobs.
Islamic cultural beliefs in Afghanistan limited women’s presence in the workforce even before the Taliban. In 2021 under Afghanistan’s Islamic Republic, only 14.8% of Afghan workers were women. When the Taliban took power, leaders banned all female education beyond sixth grade, barred women from public spaces, and excluded them from most jobs.
Last year, women made up just 4.8% of the Afghan workforce according to World Bank data.
Today, few jobs are available to women. For these, the Taliban says it provides a “safe, secure, and separate” working environment in line with Islamic values and Afghan traditions, according to spokesman Samiullah Ebrahimi.
The restricted jobs are in female-only settings and include farming, cleaning, tailoring, and making food. Ahmadzai sews with other women in a basement workshop.
Obtaining work permission from the Taliban is challenging for Afghan women. The ministry issuing work permits banned women from its premises. Instead, the ministry set up a female-only office to “speed things up and make things easier” for women, says Ebrahimi.
Some jobs for women remain in education and health care. Ahmadzai is taking a nursing and midwifery course so she can become a medical professional. But she cannot be a doctor—Taliban leaders don’t want more female doctors.
Referring to the work in the basement, Ahmadzai says, “We are only looking for a way to escape.”
Salma Yusufzai once owned three gemstone businesses. She gave them up to lead the Afghanistan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Under Taliban rule, she can’t own businesses anyway—so they’re in her husband’s name.
Yusufzai does what she can to help other women but says, “Since we are living in this country, we have to follow the rules.” Her smile is tight. “From nothing, it is better to have something.”
No country outside of Afghanistan officially recognizes the Taliban’s rule as a legitimate government. The United Nations has said that recognition remains almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain. Over the summer, the Taliban pushed back against that position. Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says the Taliban upholds religious and cultural values that “must be acknowledged” by the nations of the world.
Mujahid encouraged other nations to look past Afghanistan’s current human rights offenses, saying that “policy differences amid states are natural, and it is the duty of experienced diplomats to find ways of interaction and understanding rather than confrontation.”
Why? Regimes that repress women fail to acknowledge that both men and women reflect the image of God, are heirs of His grace, and have vital roles in realizing His purposes.
For more about Afghanistan, see Razia's Ray of Hope by Elizabeth Suneby in our Recommended Reading.
