page_title: Women in Afghanistan
section_title: Politics and workforce
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Afghanistan / Politics and workforce
caption_attribution_description: English: Afghan National Army Brig. Gen. Khatool Mohammadzai attended the Gender Integration Luncheon at ISAF Headquarters, Feb. 25. The attendees, which included ambassadors, representatives from the United Nations, non-governmental agencies and Afghan ministries, discussed the many strides made in women-related issues in Afghanistan and the Afghan National Security Force.
context_page_description: Women's rights in Afghanistan have been varied throughout history. Women officially gained equality under the 1964 constitution. However these rights were taken away in the 1990s through different temporary rulers such as the Taliban during civil war. Especially during the latter's rule, women had very little to no freedom, specifically in terms of civil liberties. Ever since the Taliban regime was removed in late 2001, women's rights have gradually improved under the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and women are once again de jure equal to men under the 2004 constitution, which was largely based on that from 1964. However, their rights are still complicated by a reactionary view on women by certain classes of school, particularly ruralites, which continue to cause international concern.
context_section_description: A large number of Afghan women serve as members of parliament. Some of these included Shukria Barakzai, Fauzia Gailani, Nilofar Ibrahimi, Fauzia Koofi, and Malalai Joya. Several women also took positions as ministers, including Suhaila Seddiqi, Sima Samar, Husn Banu Ghazanfar, and Suraya Dalil. Habiba Sarabi became the first female governor in Afghanistan. She also served as Minister of Women's Affairs. Azra Jafari became the first female mayor of Nili, the capital of Daykundi Province. As of December 2018, Roya Rahmani is the first ever female Afghan ambassador to the United States.
  The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), which includes the Afghan National Police, have a growing number of female officers. One of the Afghan National Army Brigadier generals is Khatol Mohammadzai. In 2012, Niloofar Rahmani became the first female pilot in the Afghan Air Force pilot training program to fly solo in a fixed-wing aircraft, following the footsteps of Colonel Latifa Nabizada, the first Afghan female pilot ever to fly a military helicopter. Other notable Afghan women include Roya Mahboob, Aziza Siddiqui, Mary Akrami, Suraya Pakzad, Wazhma Frogh, Shukria Asil, Shafiqa Quraishi, Maria Bashir, Maryam Durani, Malalai Bahaduri, and Nasrin Oryakhil.
  The most popular traditional work for women in Afghanistan is tailoring, and a large percentage of the population are professional tailors working from home. Since the fall of the Taliban, women have returned to work in Afghanistan. Some became entrepreneurs by starting businesses. For example, Meena Rahmani became the first woman in Afghanistan to open a bowling center in Kabul. Many others are employed by companies and small businesses. Some engaged in singing, acting, and news broadcasting. In 2015, a 17-year-old Negin Khpolwak became Afghanistan's first female music conductor.
  In 2014, women made up 16.1% of the labor force in Afghanistan. Because the nation has a struggling economy overwhelmed with massive unemployment, women often cannot find work where they receive sufficient pay. One area of the economy where women do play a significant role is in agriculture. Of the number of Afghans employed in the agriculture field or similar occupations, about 30 percent of them are women. In some areas in Afghanistan, women may spend as much time working on the land as men do, but still often earn three times less than men in wages.
  In terms of percentage, women rank high in the fields of medicine and media, and are slowly working their way into the field of justice. Because women are still highly encouraged to consult a female physician when they go to the hospital, nearly fifty percent of all Afghans in the medical profession are women. The number of women having professions in the media is also rising. It was reported in 2008 that nearly a dozen of television stations had all female anchors as well as female producers. As women are given more opportunities in education and the workforce, more of them are turning towards careers in medicine, media, and justice.
  However, even the women that are given the opportunity to have careers have to struggle to balance their home life with their work life, as household tasks are seen as primarily female duties. Since the Afghan economy is weak, very few women can afford to hire domestic helpers, so they are forced to take care of all the household work primarily on their own. Those who choose to work must labour twice as hard because they are essentially holding two jobs.
caption: Brigadier-General Khatool Mohammadzai of the Afghan National Army in 2012.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Kabul, Afghanistan \u2013Afghan National Army Brig. Gen. Khatool Mohammadzai attended the Gender Integration Luncheon at ISAF Headquarters, Feb. 25. The attendees, which included ambassadors, representatives from the United Nations, non-governmental agencies and Afghan ministries, discussed the many strides made in women-related issues in Afghanistan and the Afghan National Security Force. (U.S. Army Photo/ Master Sgt. Kap Kim) (released)", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300S", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:02:27 22:05:04", "Image Artist": "U.S. Army Master Sgt. Kap Kim", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "804", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1460", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1574", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6390", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/50", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "3200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:02:25 11:54:04", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:02:25 11:54:04", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "175", "EXIF SubSecTime": "41", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "41", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "41", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2100", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1428", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "262", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}