UN Report: complete exclusion of women from political life in Afghanistan

A new report published by UN Women shows that Afghanistan has become one of the few countries in the world where women have no place in official power structures, and where there are not even reliable statistics on their presence in political institutions. This situation is described as a direct result of the systematic exclusion of women from public life following the Taliban’s return to power.

The 2026 UN Women report, titled “Women in Politics,” which examines women’s participation in political power structures across 190 countries, presents a concerning picture of Afghanistan. According to the report, Afghanistan is classified among a group of countries, along with Guinea and Myanmar, where it is not possible to assess women’s participation in political structures due to exceptional conditions or a lack of available data.

According to the report’s findings, the global average for women’s representation in parliaments stands at 27.4 percent. While this figure remains far from gender equality, it reflects a growing trend of women’s participation in many countries.

However, following the dissolution of parliament after the Taliban’s takeover and the absence of any official information on the legislative structure, Afghanistan is effectively excluded from global rankings on women’s representation in legislative bodies. This comes despite the fact that women previously held around 27 percent of seats in the House of Representatives before the fall of the former government in 2021, equivalent to 68 out of 250 seats allocated under the constitution.

Experts believe that the abolition of parliament and the complete exclusion of women from the legislative process have pushed Afghanistan entirely out of the trajectory of political participation that had gradually developed over the past two decades.

The UN report also shows that Afghanistan has been removed from the list of countries with available statistics on women in ministerial cabinets. In this section, Afghanistan is grouped with North Korea and Myanmar; countries for which no reliable information is available regarding women in senior executive positions.

Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, all ministries, decision-making bodies, councils, and nearly all executive structures have been devoid of women. Women no longer play any role in the political administration of the country, making Afghanistan one of the few countries in the world where women hold no official positions in government or key decision-making posts.

Meanwhile, Rwanda leads the world in women’s representation in parliament, with women holding 63.8 percent of seats, followed by Cuba at 57.2 percent and Nicaragua at 55 percent. This ranking reflects expanding international efforts to enhance women’s participation in political life and enable their access to decision-making positions.

At the level of senior leadership, despite the persistent gender gap, women continue to hold leadership roles. According to the UN report, women serve as heads of state in 10.6 percent of countries worldwide, while 10.9 percent have female prime ministers. In contrast, Afghanistan has not only fallen behind this global trend but has also been excluded from several international indicators on women’s political participation due to restrictive Taliban policies.

Human rights experts and women’s rights activists have warned that the complete exclusion of women from power structures not only violates the rights of half the Afghan population but also seriously undermines the legitimacy, transparency, and effectiveness of the political system.

They argue that the continuation of this approach has made Afghanistan one of the few countries in the world where women have no formal representation in legislative, executive, or decision-making bodies.

A-H 

ANHA