Five years into Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the most economically exclusionary places on earth for women — a country where only one in twenty workers is female, and where four in five young women exist entirely outside the realms of education, employment, and training. What the International Labour Organization describes as 'severe exclusion' is not merely a gender crisis but a structural wound to an economy already hollowed out by political rupture, pandemic, and mass displacement. The erasure of women from economic life, compounded by returning emigrants, rising inflation, an
Afghanistan's female labor force participation plummets to 5% under Taliban rule
Millions of Afghan women face severe economic exclusion and educational restrictions under Taliban rule, with 84% of young women outside employment, education, or training, while mass emigrant returns from Iran and Pakistan displace additional workers.
One in twenty workers. A generation locked out before it begins.
Mark
When you say female labor participation fell from 16.5% to 5.1%, what does that actually mean for a woman trying to feed her family?
Mimi
It means she's almost certainly not working in any formal capacity. She might be doing informal work—selling things in a market, taking in sewing, caring for others' children for cash. But the official economy has largely closed its doors to her. Before 2021, one in six working-age women had some kind of job. Now it's one in twenty.
Mark
And the young women statistic—84% as NEETs—that's even more severe than the overall number.
Mimi
Exactly. It's a generation being locked out before they even start. In 2019, 68% of young women were outside education and employment. That's already troubling. But 84% now? These are girls who should be in school or beginning careers. Instead, they're in a holding pattern with no clear path forward.
Mark
The report mentions women-owned businesses increased tenfold. Shouldn't that be good news?
Mimi
It would be, if it reflected genuine opportunity. But the ILO is clear: it's a symptom of desperation. When every other door closes, some women will try to create their own work. But a woman selling goods from her home isn't the same as a woman with a job, benefits, stability, or a career trajectory.
Mark
What about the emigrant returns from Iran and Pakistan? How does that connect?
Mimi
It's another pressure valve releasing at once. Six million people coming back need work. The labor market can't absorb them. Remittances from Afghans abroad—money families depend on to survive—are expected to be cut in half. And now the war in Iran is making things worse for the Afghans still there, pushing more returns.
Mark
So this isn't just a gender problem. It's an economy in crisis.
Mimi
Right. The gender crisis is the most visible and most severe, but it's part of a larger collapse. GDP crashed 15% when the Taliban took over. Growth is barely positive now. Inflation just jumped to 8%. The whole system is under pressure, and women are bearing the heaviest weight.
Der Puls
- Female labor participation has fallen by two-thirds since 2020, leaving Afghanistan second only to Yemen in how thoroughly it has locked women out of its economy.
- 84% of young Afghan women are classified as NEETs — not in education, employment, or training — a figure that has worsened sharply since 2019 and signals a generational rupture in human potential.
- Over 6 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan since 2023, flooding a labor market that cannot absorb them and threatening to cut vital remittance income nearly in half.
- Inflation has surged from under 1% to around 8% in a single year, driven by regional conflict and energy shocks, eroding the already thin earnings of informal workers who form the backbone of Afghan employment.
- Women have turned to entrepreneurship at unprecedented rates — a tenfold increase in women-owned businesses — but the ILO warns this reflects desperation, not progress, as formal employment remains structurally closed to them.
Five years into Taliban rule, Afghanistan has become one of the most economically exclusionary places on earth for women — a country where only one in twenty workers is female, and where four in five young women exist entirely outside the realms of education, employment, and training. What the International Labour Organization describes as 'severe exclusion' is not merely a gender crisis but a structural wound to an economy already hollowed out by political rupture, pandemic, and mass displacement. The erasure of women from economic life, compounded by returning emigrants, rising inflation, and regional conflict, places Afghanistan at a crossroads between fragile recovery and deeper collapse.
Five years after the Taliban's return, Afghanistan's female workforce has been reduced to a shadow of itself. The International Labour Organization reports that only 5.1% of the country's workers are women in 2026 — down from 16.5% before the takeover — placing Afghanistan second only to Yemen in the severity of female employment exclusion. Among young women, 84% are outside education, employment, or training entirely, compared to under 30% for young men. The ILO has called this a 'severe exclusion' that threatens not just women's lives but the country's entire economic future.
The broader economy offers little cushion. Afghanistan's GDP fell roughly 15% when the Taliban seized power in 2021, and while modest growth has since returned, employment gains have not kept pace with population growth. One paradox stands out: women-owned businesses have increased tenfold — but the ILO is clear that this reflects the closure of all other doors, not genuine economic empowerment.
External pressures are deepening the crisis. More than 6 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan since 2023, straining a labor market already near its limits and threatening to halve remittance flows that many households depend on for survival. The ongoing conflict in Iran adds further uncertainty for the 3.2 million Afghans still residing there. Meanwhile, inflation has climbed from under 1% to around 8% in just one year, hitting informal workers and poorer families hardest — groups that constitute the majority of Afghanistan's employed population. What remains unmistakable is that millions of Afghan women now live in an economy that has systematically contracted around them, leaving behind not just livelihoods, but futures.
Five years after the Taliban returned to power, Afghanistan's female labor force has contracted to a fraction of what it once was. According to the International Labour Organization, only 5.1% of workers in the country are women in 2026—a staggering collapse from 16.5% in 2020, before the Taliban takeover in August 2021. The country now ranks second globally in the severity of female employment exclusion, trailing only war-torn Yemen.
The numbers tell a story of systematic economic erasure. Among young women, 84% are classified as NEETs—not in education, employment, or training—compared to just under 30% for young men. This gap has widened dramatically since 2019, when the NEET rate for young women stood at 68%. The ILO, in its report released this week, called the situation a "severe exclusion" that threatens not just women's livelihoods but Afghanistan's entire economic resilience. "Afghanistan cannot build a resilient labor market while such a large share of its population remains excluded from economic activity," said Tite Habiyakare, the ILO's senior coordinator for Afghanistan.
The broader economic picture compounds the crisis. Afghanistan's GDP plummeted roughly 15% when the Taliban returned in 2021, coinciding with the withdrawal of US and NATO forces and the COVID pandemic. While the economy has technically returned to modest positive growth, it remains far below pre-Taliban levels. Employment numbers have begun to rise in absolute terms, but not quickly enough to absorb population growth or the waves of returning emigrants. As a result, the share of the population with work has stalled at just under one-third.
One counterintuitive development has been a tenfold increase in women-owned businesses—but this reflects desperation rather than opportunity. With formal employment doors closed, women have turned to entrepreneurship as one of the few remaining economic outlets available to them. The ILO noted this trend while emphasizing that it cannot substitute for genuine labor market participation.
External pressures are intensifying the strain. More than 6 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan between 2023 and May 2026, driven by policy changes, economic hardship, and security concerns. This mass return has become what the ILO describes as "one of the defining labor market challenges" facing the country. The influx is expected to halve remittance inflows—money sent home by Afghans abroad—from around 4% of GDP in 2020 to approximately 2% by 2025. These remittances are often lifelines for Afghan households, making their decline particularly consequential for families already struggling.
The Middle East conflict has added another layer of uncertainty. Since February 2026, the war in Iran has created additional risks for the roughly 3.2 million Afghans still residing there, while Iran's implementation of return policies continues to push people back across the border. The ILO warned that the regional instability threatens to disrupt trade, increase fuel and food prices, and drive further inflation. Already, inflation has spiked from less than 1% in May 2025 to around 8% by May 2026—a surge that disproportionately harms poorer households and erodes the real earnings of informal workers, who make up a large share of Afghanistan's employed population.
About 70% of workers, particularly those with fewer skills, face at least moderate exposure to factors tied to the regional crisis—energy prices chief among them. The ILO cautioned that its own data relies on modeling estimates "subject to considerable uncertainty," calling for increased investment in more reliable labor force measurement. What remains clear, however, is that Afghanistan's women face a labor market that has contracted dramatically, leaving millions without access to education, employment, or the economic independence that characterized the previous two decades.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Afghanistan cannot build a resilient labor market while such a large share of its population remains excluded from economic activity.— Tite Habiyakare, ILO senior coordinator for Afghanistan
Large-scale returns of emigrants, particularly from Iran and Pakistan, have become one of the defining labor market challenges facing Afghanistan.— International Labour Organization
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