The Kabul Tribune (KT) — The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) says Afghan women and girls have faced unprecedented restrictions on their rights, freedoms, and dignity since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021.
According to
UN Women’s 2024 Afghanistan Gender Index, the most comprehensive assessment of
women’s empowerment and gender parity in the country since the Taliban
takeover, Afghan women are being systematically excluded from nearly every
aspect of life.
The report
shows that nearly eight out of every ten young Afghan women are denied access
to education, employment, and professional training — a rate four times higher
than that of men. It further indicates that Afghanistan ranks as the world’s
second country with the widest gender gap, with a 76 percent disparity between
men and women in areas such as health, education, financial inclusion, and
decision-making.
UN Women
warns that Afghan women, despite their resilience and determination, are
falling dramatically behind global standards for human development. The organization
says Afghanistan’s progress will remain stalled unless concrete and inclusive
actions are taken to empower all citizens — especially women.
The Afghanistan
Gender Index 2024, developed with financial support from the European Union,
adapts the global Women’s Empowerment Index and Gender Parity Index launched by
UN Women and UNDP in 2023 to Afghanistan’s context. It measures women’s status
across five key dimensions: Life and health, education and skills, work and financial
inclusion, participation in decision-making, freedom from violence.
The report
concludes that the continued exclusion of women from public life poses a
serious threat to the country’s future development and stability. It calls on
national and international actors to take coordinated action to address the
ongoing women’s rights crisis in Afghanistan.
UN Women
says the findings will guide evidence-based policies and strengthen advocacy
efforts for gender equality and women’s empowerment across Afghanistan.
