From the vantage point of Taliban representatives, closing their eyes and stating how they “highly respected” women and would never compare them to cats seemed like a perfect response to hard-hitting criticism of their treatment of women by award-winning actress Meryl Streep.
To their disappointment, her parallels with a cat feeling the sun and a bird singing in Kabul ricocheted around the world, tugging at the heartstrings of several compassionate countries, out of which four–Germany, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands–have already stepped forward with talks of “unprecedented action” against the ruling Taliban for violating the international convention on discrimination against women. At this point, there’s little that can turn the attention away from how the situation for Afghan women has become increasingly dire under the rule of the Taliban, despite oft-repeated pledges of change and progress.
As is the case with falling dominoes, the growing frustration has now reached a level where this lack of progress has forced many to resort to extreme measures in their quest against the erasure of an entire gender.
Since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, there have been countless reports of restrictions on education and employment, strict dress codes, denial of basic rights and recent edicts demanding women remain silent in public.
No international pressure has yet been enough to make them deliver a more inclusive and progressive regime, leaving many women feeling trapped. Ironically, the Taliban dismiss these calls as propaganda and justify their restrictions in the name of culture and religion.
Since there appears unanimous support for the rights of women and girls, whose undermining by the Taliban’s burgeoning body of laws is being seen as a clear case of gender apartheid, it can only be hoped that the international community will follow through on its commitments. History suggests that Taliban leaders have not (and will not) change and hence, they should be held accountable to ensure that Afghan women are granted the freedoms they deserve. Mere excuses cannot do the trick any longer. *
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