Now banned from most jobs in Afghanistan, women have turned to working at home or in clandestine businesses.
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Five months after Taliban supporters destroyed her restaurant, Afghan businesswoman Laila Haidari opened a secret craft center, allowing women to earn a small income sewing elaborate dresses and making jewelry from melted bullet casings.
Laila Haidari's workshop is one of many underground establishments ranging from gyms to beauty salons and even schools for girls that Afghan women have set up since the Taliban took power in 2021, forcing them out of work.
“I opened the center to create jobs for women in need,” Haidari said. “It’s not a long-term solution, but at least it will help them have food every day.”
Exactly two years ago on August 15, the Taliban government took power, banning women from most jobs, from secondary and university education, and imposing harsh restrictions on their freedom of movement.
Haidari, 44, once owned a lively restaurant in Kabul known for its music and poetry evenings, popular with intellectuals, writers, journalists and expats. The profits went to a drug rehabilitation center she founded nearby. But days after the Taliban took over the country, gunmen and locals evicted the rehabilitation center’s patients, destroyed her restaurant and looted her belongings.
Her craft business now sponsors math, science and English materials for a secret school of 200 girls that offers a mix of online and in-person learning.
“I don’t want Afghan girls to forget their knowledge and then, in a few years, we will have another illiterate generation,” she shared, referring to women and girls who were deprived of education during the Taliban’s final rule from 1996 to 2001.
The center also produces men's clothing, rugs and home decor, employing about 50 women who earn $58 a month.
The Taliban's return to power has quickly reversed two decades of internationally backed efforts to boost economic opportunities for women as donors poured billions of dollars into female empowerment programs.
Most of the businesses founded by women before 2021 were in informal cottage industries such as bakeries. But gradually, women have moved into traditionally male-dominated sectors such as IT, communications services, exports, travel and tourism, and even construction.
The cafes and restaurants that women like Haidari run were once considered male territory in Afghanistan, due to taboos around women socializing with men outside the home.
Several other Afghan women are involved in running large foreign businesses in sectors including mining, logistics and import-export.
But many women have also been forced to close their businesses amid Afghanistan's severe economic crisis, which was triggered by the Taliban takeover after foreign governments cut off funding and froze the country's banking assets.
The crisis has hit all businesses hard, but the difficulties for women have been compounded by Taliban restrictions on their movement, including a ban on traveling without a male relative.
Tailor Wajiha Sekhawat, 25, used to travel to Pakistan and Iran to buy fabric for her workshop in the western city of Herat, where she creates outfits for clients inspired by celebrity social media posts. But with her income slashed by the economic crisis, she could not afford to bring a companion. So she sent a young man from her family to Pakistan instead, but the products he brought back did not meet her requirements.
Sekhawat’s monthly income has dropped from about $600 to less than $200 as demand for party wear and professional women’s clothing plummeted after most of them lost their jobs. Taliban regulations on escorts make it difficult for women to buy raw materials, meet people to do business or sell their goods. The restrictions also make it harder for female customers to reach them.
“I used to travel abroad alone all the time, but now I can’t even go out for coffee,” Sekhawat said. “It’s suffocating. There are days when I just go into my room and scream.”
The Taliban's restrictions are particularly harsh on a country with an estimated 2 million widows, as well as single women and divorcees. Some are the sole breadwinners of their families, but may not have a male escort to act as their escort.
After her husband died in 2015, Sadaf relied on income from her busy beauty salon in Kabul to support her five children. She provides hairstyling, makeup, manicures and wedding makeup services to a clientele ranging from government officials to television presenters.
Sadaf, 43, started running her business from home after the Taliban ordered her to close her shop.
But with customers who have lost their jobs, most have stopped coming or cut back. Her monthly income has dropped from about $600 to $200.
But last month, the government ordered all beauty salons to close, saying they offered treatments that went against their Islamic values. More than 60,000 women are likely to lose their jobs, according to industry estimates. Sadaf fears the Taliban will also start targeting women like her when they treat them at home.
Women's Microenterprises
Although the Taliban barred women from most areas of public life, they did not prohibit them from running businesses, and some aid organizations continued to oversee employment projects.
The global charity CARE runs a major program that began before the Taliban took power.
“There is a lot of need because no one wants to be dependent on humanitarian aid,” said Melissa Cornet, an adviser with CARE Afghanistan. “Women are just desperate to get any kind of livelihood they can.” But aid agencies have had to adjust their programs.
“We have had to focus more on training women in crafts that they can do at home – sewing, embroidery or making foods like biscuits, jams, pickles,” Cornet said.
Although the income is typically less than $100 a month, Cornet said it can be life-changing for a family at a time when unemployment is sky-high and 85 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
Aid agencies say they have promoted the economic benefits of allowing women to work in negotiations with the Taliban government.
“We tell them if we create jobs, it means these women can feed their families, it means they are paying taxes,” Cornet said. “We try to have a practical approach and it is usually quite successful.”
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