Meryl Streep takes the Taliban to task with a story about cats, squirrels and birds.

 Updated 4:39 AM EDT, Thu September 26, 2024

When award-winning actress Meryl Streep spoke on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly about cats, squirrels, and birds, she wasn't making a point about hunters and prey.

She was comparing all three to women and girls in Afghanistan and saying they have more rights.

"A cat may feel the sun on her face. She may chase a squirrel into the park… A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not, and a woman may not in public. This is extraordinary," Streep said on Monday. "This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd."

As Streep's words went around social media, four countries came forward to declare "unprecedented" action against the ruling Taliban for its "systematic oppression" of women and girls.

Germany, Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands on Thursday accused the hardline Islamist group of violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The convention was ratified by the previous Afghan government way back in 2003, well before the Taliban re-seized power three years ago after the withdrawal of the United States and its allies following a 20-year war.

"We know that women and girls of Afghanistan are effectively being erased from public life by the various edicts the Taliban have issued," Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told reporters in New York.

We do unprecedented steps with Germany, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Tightening restrictions

The Taliban has slowly but surely resorted to banning women and girls from going about daily activities since it took over.

They are no longer allowed to work or study beyond grade 6. Their bodies must be fully covered, and they are forbidden to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

As quoted by Streep, the edicts by the Taliban last month include their demands that women and girls refrain from speaking in public.

According to the Taliban's own interpretation of Islam, a woman's voice is considered intimate, hence not to be heard singing, reciting, or reading out loud.

This systematic oppression of women and girls as alleged by the UN, has created a full-blown mental health crisis in Afghanistan's female population.

According to health experts and rights activists, depression among women and girls is on the rise -and it leads to an upsurge in suicide and suicide attempts.

The four Western nations involved take the measure to court, Human Rights Watch says this might lead to proceedings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

As a signatory to CEDAW, Afghanistan is expected to respond to the complaint.

However the document bears the signature of the previous government and till now, this international condemnation has not been able to see a shift in the stance of the Taliban.

According to a Taliban spokesman Thursday, it was "absurd" to accuse Afghanistan's leaders of gender discrimination.

"Unfortunately, an attempt is being made through the mouths of some women to spread propaganda against Afghanistan and make the situation look wrong."

‘Erasure of an entire gender’

In New York, Streep told CNN's Christiane Amanpour she was compelled to make a speech in behalf of the Afghan women and girls who have been disregarded by the Taliban, their actions "like the erasure of an entire gender."

Fawzia Koofi, a former Afghan member of parliament told Amanpour the Taliban had "failed to understand that Afghanistan has changed".

Despite the efforts of the Taliban to erase her, she said, that women were struggling to be given a voice.

After the Taliban banned women's voices from the public, some posted videos of themselves to social media, singing in defiance.

"That is a sign of a different Afghanistan that the Taliban don't get," she said. "Today, every woman in Afghanistan is a journalist, every woman in Afghanistan is a TV, by talking about their experience."

Afghan Researcher Fereshta Abbasi for Human Rights Watch said the action by Germany and its allies may mark the beginning of the path to justice for the Taliban's egregious human rights abuses against Afghan women and girls.

"It is vitally important that other countries register their support for this action, and importantly, that they also involve Afghan women as the process moves forward," she said.