Afghanistan Times
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KABUL – Prospects remain grim for women and girls inside Afghanistan in 2023, as well as the hundreds of thousands of undocumented refugee women and girls whom Pakistan is currently forcing to return to the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
As they have since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, Gallup surveys continue to show that nearly all Afghan women are suffering and most do not feel women in their country are treated with respect. But this year, women’s satisfaction with the freedom they have to choose what they do with their lives has dropped to an unprecedented low.
Just 11% of Afghan women interviewed in July said they are satisfied with the freedom they have to choose what they do with their lives, which is a new record low, not just for Afghanistan but for any country or population that Gallup has ever polled.
The sharp drop in women’s satisfaction — from the previous low of 29% in 2022 to 11% in 2023 — likely reflects their realization that the severe restrictions placed on them after the Taliban took over are now the status quo. The Taliban have indicated that the ban on girls attending school beyond sixth grade will remain in place.
While Afghan men have not suffered the same restrictions that women have, both men and women notably are currently unhappier with their freedom to choose what they do with their lives than they’ve been at any point in the past. However, Afghan women continue to be less satisfied than Afghan men.
As has been the case since the Taliban’s takeover, nearly all Afghan women and men rate their lives so poorly that they can be considered “suffering.” Women hold a slight edge over men: 96% of women and 93% of men in 2023 rate their lives poorly enough to be considered suffering.
Gallup classifies individuals as “thriving,” “struggling” or “suffering” according to how they rate their current and future lives on a ladder scale with steps numbered from zero to 10, based on the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. Those who rate their current lives and anticipated lives in five years a 4 or lower are classified as suffering.
