UN Women: Afghanistan under Taliban Rule Faces a “Deliberate and Unprecedented Attack” on Women’s Rights

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UN Women, in its latest report, says Afghanistan under Taliban rule is witnessing a “deliberate and unprecedented attack” on the rights, freedoms, and dignity of women and girls.

The Afghanistan Gender Index 2024, released on Sunday (October 26), states that around eight out of every ten young Afghan women are deprived of education, employment, and skills training; a rate nearly four times higher than that of men.

According to the organisation, Afghanistan now has the world’s second-widest gender gap since the Taliban’s return to power, with a 76 percent disparity between women and men in education, health, decision-making, and financial participation.

UN Women warns that Afghan women have been excluded from nearly every sphere of public life, a situation that has pushed the country significantly away from global standards of human development.

The report adds that Afghanistan’s development “will continue to decline unless all people, especially women, are empowered to grow and participate.”

Prepared with financial support from the European Union, the Afghanistan Gender Index 2024 assesses the status of women in five key areas: life and health, education and skills development, work and financial inclusion, participation in decision-making, and freedom from violence.

The findings once again depict a bleak picture of women’s conditions in Afghanistan, where after four years of Taliban rule, millions of women and girls remain deprived of education, employment, and free public life, with their prospects for empowerment more restricted than ever before.