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11.4 Women in the labour force
Economic empowerment of women is based on two dimensions: opportunity and resources. Opportunity refers to
‘a womans power to make and act on decisions that would allow her to obtain valuable
outcomes from economic activi
ty’ CESOSACO n.d., p.6. In many ways women’s opportunities on the labour market are diminished and restricted by social, economic and cultural factors. Resources cover a
wide range of assets covering for instance financial means, physical assets, but also skills, expertise, education, and respect. An important condition for the economic and social empowerment of a woman
is that she can freely use her individual resources to realise her own priorities. The labour market in Afghanistan shows stark patterns of inequality between the sexes, with the position
of women being particularly weak. Men have a labour force participation rate of 81.0 percent, while women score much lower with only 29.0 percent. Women’s share in the non-agricultural sector is only
10.3 percent, down from 11.1 percent in 2011-12. The unemployment rate in Afghanistan is very high; 22.6 percent of the active population is out of work. Unemployment among women is much higher than
among men: 36.8 percent against 17.6 percent. The high unemployment rate for women and
their very low share in non-agricultural work are both related to the cultural restrictions for
women to enter the labour market, but can also be attributed to their disadvantaged competitive
position because of low educational attainment.
To better understand labour activities of women in Afghanistan, the ALCS 2013-14 asked four different questions in the gender module whether women spent time even only for one hour during the week
before the survey on: a agricultural or livestock work, b non-agricultural work on own account or in a family business, c work for any business, organisation or person that does not belong to her household
and d making of clothes, carpets or other durable goods for use by her household. The results of these four questions are depicted by five-year age groups in
Figure 11.7
. The graph clearly shows that the participation of women in economic activities is highest through their work in agriculture. In fact in
each age group, the percentage of women working in agricultural is higher than in all the three other activities combined. In each of the age groups in the age bracket 25 to 60, more than 40 percent of
women are active in agriculture. From a young age on, girls are active: 28.5 percent of 14 year old girls do agricultural work, 10.7 help in non-agricultural work for the family and 10.0 percent produce durable
goods. Very few women 3.4 percent are engaged in economic activities for any business, organisation or person that does not belong to the household. In none of the age groups is this percentage higher than
5 percent. Women in urban areas have a slightly higher activity rate in work outside the households: 5.3 percent in urban areas, against 2.9 percent in rural areas. Hardly any Kuchi woman is involved in
economic activities outside her household 0.2 percent. The second most important activity of women is the production of durable goods, such as carpets and clothes for use by the own household.
MDG Indicator 3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-
agricultural sector
10.2 percent
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Figure 11.7: Economic activities of women by five year age group
Although only few women are involved in paid work, many expressed their personal desire to work for money. In urban areas 40.2 percent of women would like to work for money, this percentage is even
higher in rural areas 44.7 percent. Although very few Kuchi women work outside the household, 35.9 percent would want to work for money Table 5.9.2.
Table 11.2: Women 14 years of age and over by preference to work for money and place of residence
Residence Wants paid
Does not want Already has
work paid work
paid work National
43.1 54.9
2.0 Urban
40.2 56.5
3.4 Rural
44.7 53.8
1.5 Kuchi
35.9 62.3
1.8
11.5 Decision making
Kategori