Gender-based discrimination in focus as Meryl Streep says cats have more freedom than girls in afghanistan

Prominent actress Meryl Streep recently highlighted in a speech on the sidelines of the UN general assembly that a cat, or a squirrel for that matter, has more freedom than the female community in afghanistan – imploring the international community to do more.

The remarks come after the Taliban unfurled late last month a set of draconian rules for the women there, including bans on reciting the holy Quran in public, looking at men not part of their family or going out in public devoid of a face covering.

“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 said at the event focused on rampantly depleting human rights in the country.

Morality police appears to have become more active

The Taliban took over afghanistan after the US exited from the country in 2021. The regime had previously introduced rules such as restricting girls from attending school above the 6th grade. But it had not fully enforced them and had portrayed them as temporary.

But the morality police appears to have become more active, roaming bus stops and shopping centres, on the hunt for dress-code violations and other incidents. Meryl Streep urged the international community to stop the suffocation of half the country’s population.

Taliban officials have tried to partly justify their controversial rules, saying they are designed to protect the female community in the country. The regime has also been monitoring men, as morality police check for people failing to have a beard.