Handicap International experience in Afghanistan - CBM

Activity level differs between men and women. The majority of persons with disability, who do not work due tothe severity of their condition, are men. Reasons for women not working are not directly linked to disability.In fact, Figure 34 shows that women aged 15-64, disabled or not, are very scarcely present in the labourmarket in income generating activities (only 9.0% are active). This is due to the fact that women are mostoften not allowed to go outside the house, especially for farming activities in the field. However, NDSA trendsshow that in urban centres, women more often participate in the labour market, especially when they are theonly ones to support their families after migration or death of husbands or fathers: 12.2% work and bringan income to the family.What is indisputable is the fact that women in Afghanistan are responsible for all household tasks: lookingafter children and elders, preparing meals, fetching wood and water if they are not too far, cleaning thehouse and the compound, etc. 90.0% of women aged 15 to 64 carry out all these tasks, which are physicallydemanding. In urban areas, only 77.3% do exclusively household related tasks, whereas in rural areas thisfigure is 89.9%. In urban areas, a few women are students, looking for a job or actually doing an incomegenerating activity; however these numbers remain very low.Figure 34: Distribution of Persons with Disability andNon-Disabled Age 15-64 According to Employment Situationand GenderWomen inAfghanistan areresponsible forall householdtasks: lookingafter children andelders, preparingmeals, fetchingwood and waterif they are nottoo far, cleaningthe house and thecompound908070• Women with Disability• Non-Disabled Women• Men with Disability• Non-Disabled Men6050403020100Working Not Working Household TasksThe employment situation is even worse for women with disability. Results show that the proportion ofwomen with disability who do not or cannot work at all and do not have the capacity to do household tasksusually carried out by women are 26.3% in urban settings and 24.7% in rural areas. This might, in turn, putat risk their chance of getting married, impact their position within the family and the community, and reducethe consideration that they have within Afghan society.Sometimes alongside household chores, women carry out an income-generating activity or a few agriculturaltasks: farming and herding livestock. Yet, in Pashto areas particularly, women are not allowed to farm andherd livestock. Therefore, the figure of 6.0% of non-disabled women working probably underestimates theexact level of activity of women, which remains very hard to assess.Type of EmploymentAround 35.7% of Afghans who report having employment, are owners, or have mortgaged the land theycultivate. Then come people having their own independent activity, who represent 18.6% of the activepopulation. Considered together, it appears that more than half of the working population is composedof self-employed people. 15.6% are contract workers 34 , which is a rather protected status as compared34A contract worker is usually employed with a contract and is paid on a regular basis. The contract can be written or can be a verbalagreement.Employment of Afghans with Disability47