Researching Afghan women's mobility decisions during COVID-19 and multiple crises - stayers or left behind?

Since 2020, Afghanistan has had to respond to several crises - the COVID-19 pandemic, the Taliban insurgency of 2021, and the fall of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GoIRA). These crises, which occurred in quick succession, led to an increase in male migrants going abroad as a coping strategy to respond to a worsening economic and humanitarian context. This has also meant that, over the last two years, Afghan women and girls have had to stay behind in an environment where their rights have been gradually and systematically removed under the new de facto authorities’ rule. Within this context of multiple crises and transitions, researchers were required to develop a nuanced approach to carrying out research on gender issues in Afghanistan, in order to better understand the impact of these crises on different sub-groups, depending on their age, ethnicity, living arrangements, and employment. This chapter highlights key findings from these studies, drawing on research conducted with Afghan women in different communities in Afghanistan between 2020 and 2021.