A bird can sing, not an Afghan woman; cats have more freedom in Kabul: Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep urged global leaders to come together and fight against Taliban oppression of women in Afghanistan saying cats have more freedom than women in Kabul
Female cats and a squirrel have more freedom than Afghan women today. A bird can sing but not an Afghan woman.
These were some of the hard-hitting observations made by Hollywood actress Meryl Streep, a prominent advocate for women’s rights, while bringing the spotlight on the plight of Afghan women under the oppressive Taliban rule.
Stop the slow suffocation
Speaking at the United National General Assembly on the 'Inclusion of women in the future of Afghanistan', Streep said, “Today in Kabul, a female cat has more freedom than a woman. A cat may go sit on the front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the a park, a squirrel has more rights than a girl in Aghanistan because public parks have been closed to women and girls by Taliban."
Further, she said evocatively, "A bird may sing in Kabul but a girl or a woman cannot." And, she urged the international community to come together so that they could stop the "slow suffocation of the entire half the population of Afghanistan".
Taliban's new morality laws
Responding to her appeal, a Taliban spokesperson slammed Streep's speech saying they “highly respected” women and would “never compare women to cats.”
Streep’s appeal comes on the back of the announcement on September 1 of a new set of draconian morality laws in Afghanistan called called Vice andVirtue Law. It mandates that women in Afghanistan should not be heard in public neither can they sing or read poetry aloud. Women are required to cover themselves from head-to-toe in public and in front of non-Muslim women. They are also required to always travel with a male ‘mahram’ or chaperone while venturing out of their homes.
Under this new law, women’s voices should not be heard in public spaces anymore; they are not allowed to look at men who are not related to them by blood or marriage.
Cautionary tale
After being pushed out of education and workplaces three years ago by the Taliban government, there is further erosion of their rights.
Striving to raise awareness about the condition of women’s rights in Afghanistan, Streep in her speech described the curtailing of women’s rights in Afghanistan as "extraordinary". "This is a suppression of the natural law,” she stressed.
According to Streep, the way that this culture, this society has been upended, is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world.
She urged world leaders to join together and “stop the slow suffocation” of the Afghan girls and women.
Meanwhile, Antonio Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, who was also present at the UN event emphasised that Afghanistan “will never take its rightful place on the global stage" without educated women and their participation in the workforce.
He also expressed his solidarity with Afghan women, stating, “We will continue to amplify the voices of Afghan women and call for them to play a full role in the country’s life, both inside its borders and on the global stage.”
The meeting was co-hosted by Ireland, Indonesia, Switzerland, and Qatar, in partnership with the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan, which aims to ensure that Afghan women are included in international dialogues and decision-making processes regarding their future.
