KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Nearly four years under Taliban rule, Afghan women and girls face a “deliberate and unprecedented” assault on their rights, freedoms, and dignity, UN Women said in a new report.
In its 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, released on Tuesday, UN Women said Afghan women and girls have been systematically erased from nearly all aspects of public life.
The report highlights that eight out of ten young women are excluded from education, skills training, and jobs, four times higher than the rate for men.
Afghanistan now has one of the largest gender gaps in the workforce, with only 24% of women participating, compared to 89% of men, the report says.
According to the report, women’s access to financial services has also sharply declined. Only 6.8% of women now have a bank account or use mobile money services, compared to 20.1% of men.
Women’s access to healthcare has also worsened, particularly after the ban on women studying medicine. The report notes that fewer than half of Afghan women who require family planning services have access to modern contraception. Meanwhile, the adolescent birth rate has risen to an alarming 62 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19.
“No women hold positions in the Taliban cabinet or in local offices,” the report notes, calling this a serious setback for women’s participation in shaping policies that affect their lives.
Despite these restrictions, UN Women says Afghan women continue to push for inclusion and seek ways to raise their concerns with Taliban authorities at both national and local levels.
“Afghanistan’s greatest resource is its women and girls,” said Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women. “Their potential remains untapped, yet they persevere.”
Bahous praised their resilience, saying they are reshaping communities despite immense restrictions. She urged the international community to stand with Afghan women in their struggle for rights and inclusion.
UN Women says it will continue working on the ground to ensure Afghan women’s voices remain central in the global response, and that they can live in dignity and contribute to the country’s future.
Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced severe restrictions on their basic rights. UN experts, legal scholars, and rights groups say these policies amount to “gender apartheid.”
Speaking at the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described the situation in Afghanistan as a “severe human rights crisis.”
He said the Taliban’s policies go beyond cultural norms and amount to “systematic, institutionalized discrimination that is unparalleled in the modern world.”
Türk urged the international community not to turn away from Afghanistan. He called for continued support to Afghan women, civil society, and human rights defenders—many of whom have been forced into silence or exile.
