Cats, birds and squirrels have more freedom than women in today’s Afghanistan.
That’s what the actress Meryl Streep says in an appeal to get the world’s leaders to turn their attention to the oppression of the Taliban regime.
A cat can sit on the front branch and feel the sun on its face. She can chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today, because the parks have closed to women and girls, says Streep during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York.
The statement comes in connection with a meeting on the theme of women’s inclusion in future Afghanistan, to which the 75-year-old actress and activist has been invited.
There she appeared with, among others, Sweden’s former foreign minister Margot Wallström, today chairman of the organization Women’s forum on Afghanistan.
Forbidden to leave home
Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, they have progressively cracked down on women’s rights, citing the movement’s interpretation of Islamic law.
Women have been excluded from education beyond the sixth form and from a wide range of occupations. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, they were forbidden to leave home except “out of necessity” and to raise their voices outside their own home.
A bird may sing in Kabul, but neither a girl nor a woman may do so in public. It’s extraordinary, says Streep.
A burqa-clad woman and her daughter outside their home in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Image from February 8, 2022.
A burqa-clad woman and her daughter outside their home in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Image from February 8, 2022.
Photo: Hussein Malla/AP/TT