Women Owning Businesses Under Taliban Rule: The Afghan Reality of Connecting a Stolen Future Through "Commerce"

In Afghanistan, women are starting businesses one after another.

At first glance, this might sound like hopeful news. The number of female entrepreneurs is increasing, workshops are being established, products are hitting the market, and incomes are supporting households. However, the backdrop is not an expansion of free economic participation. Quite the opposite. With no access to schools, no path to university, exclusion from many workplaces, and restrictions on movement and interaction, women are turning to commerce because they have "no other path left."

The New York Times reported on Afghan women running businesses under Taliban rule. What exists is not a simple success story. It is an extremely contradictory reality where hope and humiliation, ingenuity and fear, economic independence and male dependence are intricately intertwined.

Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban has imposed some of the world's strictest restrictions on women and girls. Girls have been effectively excluded from secondary education and barred from university education, and many career paths have been cut off. Beauty salons have been closed, and opportunities for women to work in healthcare, education, NGOs, and government have been significantly narrowed. Going out or traveling long distances often requires a male relative's accompaniment, making it difficult to even think about going to work simply because one "wants to work."

Still, the Taliban has not completely banned women's business activities. To avoid economic collapse and international isolation, they allow women to start businesses under certain conditions. As a result, the number of business licenses held by women has reportedly increased significantly over the past five years. Moreover, many women are engaged in small-scale work without licenses. Carpets, handicrafts, soap, cosmetics, honey, food processing, sewing, vocational training—Afghan women are creating work at the very edge of what is permissible.

However, it is too bitter to call this "women's empowerment."

Take, for example, 19-year-old Nashira Azizi, who runs a carpet workshop in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north. She was only 14 when the Taliban regained power in 2021. Like many girls, she experienced being cut off from education and confined to her home. For her, the workshop is not only a source of income but also one of the few places to connect with society. There, women tie threads, weave patterns, and create products. There is conversation, roles, and work to be done today.

Her business also serves as a place for female employment. Many women are involved, including those working in the workshop and from home. However, the presence of male family members such as fathers and brothers is indispensable for sales, negotiations with male customers, and external coordination. Even if the business license is in a woman's name, men handle the market connections. This is the core of female entrepreneurship under the Taliban. While women are allowed to work, they are still not easily permitted to stand in the market as full-fledged participants.

In Herat in the west, 21-year-old Rokia Rezai launched a soap brand. She once dreamed of being a mining engineer. However, that path was closed. Even when she tried to teach English, the tightening on private tutoring reduced the number of students. So she started making soap using saffron, turmeric, and other ingredients.

Her workshop is not a factory equipped with the latest facilities. She boils ingredients in a large pot, pours them into molds, and turns them into products. But her sights are already set on foreign markets. Expanding to Iran and Tajikistan, becoming an international brand by 2030. Despite the restrictive environment, she reads business and psychology books, thinking about product improvement and market expansion, embodying the essence of an entrepreneur.

However, she cannot freely travel to the capital, Kabul. A male companion is required. She cannot promote her brand on her own or negotiate in her own words. Even if the number of women owning businesses increases, if restrictions on movement, finance, customer interaction, and relationships with business partners remain, the ceiling for growth will be low.

Even more symbolic is beekeeper Goncha Karimi. She has become known as the "Queen of Bees in Afghanistan." She manages 50 hives, produces honey, and supports her family's crucial income. However, when she goes to the suburbs to tend to the bees, she sometimes dresses like a man. Simply moving as a woman increases the chances of scrutiny and danger.

Her business was hit by the prohibition on dealing with male customers. Furthermore, she has reportedly been detained in the past following troubles over restrictions on women. Working should be a means to support her family, yet the act itself carries risks of punishment and harassment. Her story indicates that female entrepreneurship under the Taliban is not "permitted freedom" but merely an "exception that can be taken away at any time."

Reports from the United Nations Development Programme and others corroborate this reality. In Afghanistan, women's employment opportunities have significantly decreased, and the paths for women to earn income are limited. While micro and small businesses run by women have become an important pillar supporting households, they struggle with financing, market access, and mobility constraints. Many female entrepreneurs find it difficult to secure bank loans and have to rely on borrowing from friends and relatives. Even going to the market requires a male guardian, and they may not be able to stand at the sales floor even if they have products to sell.

In other words, Afghan women's entrepreneurship is not "liberation" but a "survival strategy within confinement."

On social media, this report has elicited complex reactions. On X, posts sharing the article and praising the resilience of women can be seen. Especially among human rights advocates, researchers, and regional media figures who have been advocating for Afghan women's rights, the phrase "the only hope left is business" is being taken seriously. There is a certain admiration. Despite being in a closed environment, they are generating income, creating jobs, and supporting their families.

However, there is also a noticeable caution on social media against consuming this as a success story. If one only focuses on the fact that women are starting businesses, it might appear as if the Taliban is allowing women's economic participation. But in reality, they are only allowing limited commerce while significantly restricting education, movement, employment, expression, and bodily freedom. The admiration should be for the women's perseverance and creativity, not the system that has pushed them into this situation, which is a common reaction.

There is also a hint of dissatisfaction with the international community. The situation of Afghan women has been repeatedly reported for years. The cessation of girls' education, exclusion from universities, employment restrictions on NGO staff, and exclusion from public spaces. On social media, there are voices resembling resignation, saying, "The same thing is happening again," and "The world gets angry but quickly forgets." For those living in the Afghan diaspora outside the country, such articles are not news from a distant land. They are realities directly connected to the lives of family, friends, and former classmates.

On the other hand, there are calls for specific ways to support female entrepreneurship. Buying products, supporting vocational training, expanding digital education and financial access for women, and continuing support from international organizations. The discussions on social media are not just about anger but also about the question, "What can be done?"

However, there are challenges in providing support. For women to access international markets, they need payment systems, logistics, quality control, export procedures, online sales, language, and a digital environment. But under the Taliban, women face restrictions on learning, moving freely, having bank accounts, and negotiating with men. Even if entry points for support are created, institutional barriers block the exits.

This issue cannot be solved by "supporting women's entrepreneurship" alone. The underlying problem is the political structure that excludes women from public spaces. It is difficult for girls deprived of education to become advanced managers, engineers, doctors, or lawyers in a few years. Today's business restrictions limit tomorrow's business scale. Not being able to go to the bank limits financing. Not being able to speak up takes away negotiating power. The Taliban's rules may seem like detailed lifestyle regulations in individual instances, but when accumulated, they shrink the entire future of women.

Still, women are not completely silent.

Hands weaving carpets, pots mixing soap, hives harvesting honey. There is resistance in a form different from political slogans. Going outside the home, working with peers, earning income, owning a business in one's name. All of these should be ordinary rights, yet in today's Afghanistan, they carry significant meaning.

Of course, it is dangerous to only label them as "strong women" with a beautiful label. Words praising people working in adversity can sometimes obscure the cruelty of the system. They are not working because they are strong. They are placed in situations where they have no choice but to be strong. In a society where they have to give up their dream jobs, are cut off from learning, and cannot do business without male relatives, they are still trying to feed their families and create jobs for other women.

What this report highlights is not the bright headline of an "entrepreneurial boom" among Afghan women. Rather, it is the fact that women have no choice but to find hope in commerce because other paths are closed.

Business provides them with income. It gives them a place. It gives them conversations with peers. It gives them a sense of deciding something for themselves. But it is not a substitute for education. It is not a substitute for free employment. It is not a substitute for political participation. It is not a substitute for a system that guarantees human dignity.

Afghan women are creating work in the gaps of regulations. But the real question is why they can only live in these gaps.

The stories of these women praised on social media are records of courage and also records of the failures the world has overlooked. Behind each jar of honey, the scent of soap, and the patterns of carpets, there are stolen classrooms, closed workplaces, and bodies stopped at checkpoints.

"The only hope left is business." As long as this phrase continues to be spoken as hope, Afghan women's freedom has not yet been restored.

Source URL

New York Times: The article that served as the basis for this report on Afghan women running businesses under Taliban rule. Referenced examples include carpet workshops, soap businesses, beekeeping, the increase in female entrepreneurs, and the reality of regulations.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/world/asia/women-taliban-restrictions-jobs-education.html

UNDP Afghanistan: Referenced to supplement the decline in economic activities of Afghan women, support for female-led micro and small businesses, and the impact on female employment.
https://www.undp.org/afghanistan/stories/afghan-women-entrepreneurs-persevere-despite-restrictions

UNDP “Resilience and Opportunity”: Referenced to supplement female employment rates, the income dependence of female-led businesses, and the role of female businesses under mobility and employment restrictions.
https://www.undp.org/asia-pacific/publications/resilience-and-opportunity

Reuters: Referenced to supplement the struggles of female entrepreneurs with financing and market access, lack of access to bank loans, and restrictions on going to the market without a male guardian.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-turn-entrepreneurship-struggle-access-capital-2024-04-17/

UN Women Australia: Referenced to supplement the overall picture of restrictions on women's education, mobility, public space, and employment after the Taliban's return to power.
https://unwomen.org.au/faqs-afghan-women-three-years-after-the-taliban-takeover/

UN Women “Gender Index 2024: Afghanistan”: Referenced to supplement background data on restrictions on Afghan women's labor participation, financial inclusion, political participation, and educational opportunities.
https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2025-06/gender-index-2024-afghanistan-en.pdf

X / The Straits Times: Referenced to confirm the spread of the NYT article on social media as an example of sharing.
https://x.com/straits_times/status/2068559125328355434

X / Saad Mohseni: Referenced to confirm reactions from Afghan-related media figures sharing the NYT article.
https://x.com/saadmohseni/status/2068722749657297020

X / Shaharzad Akbar: Referenced to confirm the sharing of the article's mention of "the only hope left for women is business" in the context of Afghan women's rights.
https://x.com/ShaharzadAkbar

X / Heather Barr: Referenced to confirm the sharing of the article's issues from a human rights perspective.
https://x.com/heatherbarr1