Still, as the Taliban approach the five-year anniversary of their return to power, Afghan women have turned to entrepreneurship as one of the last ways they can support their households and find a semblance of social life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only remaining hope for women in Afghanistan is business,\u201d said Behnaz Saljughi, a representative for female business owners in the province of Herat.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven before the Taliban came, I wanted to be an entrepreneur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nasira Azizi, 19<\/p>\n
On a recent morning in a warehouse in Mazar-i-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan, some 60 women knotted, trimmed and wove rugs under the watch of their boss, Nasira Azizi, 19.<\/p>\n
Ms. Azizi was 14 when the Taliban swept back to power in 2021 and later barred millions of girls like her from studying beyond sixth grade. \u201cI fell into depression,\u201d Ms. Azizi said about the ban on education. \u201cAt home, you see the same faces all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rug workshop opened up her world. \u201cHere, there are at least more topics to discuss, more motivation to get the job done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms. Azizi launched her business with financial support from the U.N. Development Programme, including a grant to create jobs for Afghan women who have been expelled from neighboring Iran and Pakistan in recent years.<\/p>\n
She now has about 450 workers in two workshops and at home.<\/p>\n
Her two brothers handle the rugs\u2019 design and the marketing. Her father runs one of the workshops, where male employees clean the rugs before they are sold.<\/p>\n
The rest \u2014 management, human resources, finances \u2014 falls to Ms. Azizi. \u201cThe business license is under my name,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We Need Bigger Pots\u2019<\/p>\n
Roqia Rezaei, 21, said she had dreamed of becoming a mining engineer before the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Unable to pursue that field, she taught English, but the Taliban government cracked down on private tutoring, and her students dwindled.<\/p>\n
In 2022, she founded Magnolia, a soap business in Herat, one of Afghanistan\u2019s largest cities. It now sustains her family of seven, she said.<\/p>\n
The smell of turmeric wafted over Ms. Rezaei\u2019s workshop on a recent afternoon as her mother stirred the simmering, gluey matter that would soon become soap. Rows of saffron-infused soap bars and dropper bottles filled with black seed oil sat in an adjacent room.<\/p>\n
The setup remains rustic \u2014 two large stockpots, no automation \u2014 but Ms. Rezaei has her eye on Iran and Tajikistan as the next frontiers for her business, which she wants to turn into an international brand by 2030. An avid reader of psychology and management books, she spoke as two dozen certificates and online diplomas pinned to a wall towered over her.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need bigger pots and some machines,\u201d Ms. Rezaei said.<\/p>\n
A Bee Queen Defies the Rules<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one of the good things about the Taliban: The government is active in supporting women\u2019s businesses. And yet, we face more restrictions by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ghoncha Karimi, 39<\/p>\n
The stories of female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan come with countless caveats.<\/p>\n
Ms. Rezaei cannot travel alone to Kabul, the capital, to sell her soap. She needs a male companion. Ms. Azizi cannot advertise the care and finesse put into the rug-making process to male clients.<\/p>\n
They often have to rely on their husbands, fathers or brothers to do business.<\/p>\n
Or they defy Taliban restrictions.<\/p>\n
In Herat, Ghoncha Karimi, 39, a beekeeper, said she sometimes dresses as a man when she travels to the outskirts of the city to tend to her bees.<\/p>\n
With her husband struggling to find jobs as a day laborer, the honey Ms. Karimi produces from her 50 beehives makes up a significant portion of the family\u2019s income. She is now known locally as the Bee Queen of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
But sales slumped in 2023 when the Taliban ordered her to stop receiving male clients in her shop, she said.<\/p>\n
Twice in recent years, she lost her bees: once after the Taliban takeover when many women stayed at home out of fear, and again in 2023, when she was imprisoned for 20 days after a brawl with a Talib official over limitations on women.<\/p>\n
\u2018I\u2019m the Controller\u2019<\/p>\n
Afghan authorities say they encourage women to pursue vocational training programs, and they are also encouraging businesses to hire more of them, as long as the women respect the \u201cprinciples of the country,\u201d according to Samiullah Ibrahimi, the spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Work and Social Affairs.<\/p>\n
But critics say these measures are nowhere near enough.<\/p>\n
When asked about key programs for women, Mr. Ibrahimi referred to a \u201ccommittee for economic empowerment\u201d that he said had provided work for 26 women this year \u2014 in a country of nearly 45 million people.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur mothers used to tell us that they worked hard so our future would be better and more peaceful,\u201d said Fariba Noori, the acting head of Afghanistan\u2019s Women\u2019s Chamber of Commerce and Industry. \u201cOur future did not become better or more peaceful. Now we tell our own children the same thing, but I don\u2019t think that will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Families and conservative values are ever-present obstacles.<\/p>\n
Waheeda Noorzai, 41, said she faced years of domestic abuse from her husband because of her professional ambitions. She has a master\u2019s degree, but her husband, she said, does not know how to read or write.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut after fighting, you become the queen of the family,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, all the girls in my family are at school, and my brothers say, \u2018My daughter should be like you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Noorzai now manages two dozen female employees with hearing impairments at the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, a nonprofit promoting access to health care and economic inclusion.<\/p>\n
And her husband follows her guidance on their two daughters\u2019 educations, she said.<\/p>\n
Ms. Rezaei started Magnolia soap when her family was in deep financial trouble. Her father, Cheraghali Rezaei, had driven several businesses to bankruptcy in the past, he said.<\/p>\n
Yet in a lengthy interview at the family home, Mr. Rezaei claimed credit for the brand\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in charge of the marketing, and that is what matters the most. If she\u2019s a television, I\u2019m the controller that can make her into the channel I want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cheraghali Rezaei on his daughter Roqia Rezaei<\/p>\n
As restrictions pile up, some female entrepreneurs say the risks of doing business are simply getting too high.<\/p>\n
Ms. Karimi, the beekeeper, was imprisoned when her daughter was only 7. When she returned, her daughter told her, \u201cMommy, are you really released, or am I dreaming?\u201d<\/p>\n
After that episode, Ms. Karimi said, \u201cI told myself, \u2018Even if the Taliban hits me on the head, I will not raise my head again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Yaqoob Akbary, Kiana Hayeri and Safiullah Padshah contributed reporting.<\/p>\n
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