During a discussion held alongside the United Nations General Assembly, renowned actor Meryl Streep made a poignant statement regarding the dire situation of women in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. Streep pointed out the alarming degradation of women’s rights, stating that, “a squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today.”
Streep painted a stark picture of daily life in Kabul, emphasizing the deep inequality women face under the Taliban’s rule. “Today in Kabul, a female cat has more freedoms than a woman. A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park,” Streep commented during the event, which focused on the plight of women in Afghanistan. She further added, “A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls.”
The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan following the U.S. military’s withdrawal in August 2021, and since then, they have implemented strict laws that heavily restrict women’s freedoms. Initially, these measures were seen as temporary, and enforcement was lax in urban centers. However, the Taliban regime has now fully clamped down, including the ban on female education beyond the sixth grade, an issue that has drawn international condemnation.
“A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not, and a woman may not in public,” Streep said, illustrating the stark limitations imposed on Afghan women. She went on to urge the global community to take action, saying, “The international community, as a whole, if it came together, could effect change in Afghanistan and stop the slow suffocation of … half the population.”
The Taliban has defended its policies as measures to protect women, although these justifications have been met with widespread skepticism. Recently, the Taliban has even begun to enforce new regulations on men, such as requiring them to grow beards, with morality police conducting inspections at mosques.
Afghanistan’s history of women’s rights predates the Taliban’s rise to power. The country granted women the right to vote in 1919—one year before the United States. It opened its first schools for girls in 1921, marking a period when women’s rights in Afghanistan were among the most progressive in the region.
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