KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Actress and humanitarian Meryl Streep criticized the Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women during her recent remarks at the United Nations. “A female cat has more freedom than a woman in Afghanistan,” Streep said at a side event of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday.
Streep highlighted the severe restrictions Afghan women face since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. “A cat may sit on a stoop and feel the sun or chase a squirrel into a park,” she said. “A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because public parks are now closed to women and girls.”
Her remarks come in response to the Taliban’s ongoing crackdown on women’s rights. Since taking control, the group has imposed increasingly harsh restrictions, barring women from public life, including education, employment, and even basic freedoms such as movement without a male guardian.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has become a central force behind these restrictions, institutionalizing gender segregation and limiting women’s access to public spaces and services.
Streep emphasized the dehumanizing conditions Afghan women endure, noting that pets in some households have more autonomy than women. “Women are locked away, stripped of their rights, unable to pursue education, employment, or even walk freely in the streets. This isn’t just oppression—it’s erasure,” she said.
Streep also presented a brief version of the documentary film The Sharp Edge of Peace, which chronicles the journey of the only woman on the Afghan government team negotiating with the Taliban during the talks in Doha, Qatar, in 2020.
The Oscar-winning actress, known for her long-standing advocacy for human rights, called on the international community to take urgent action. She urged global leaders to hold the Taliban accountable and to ensure that the voices of Afghan women are prioritized in any peace talks and humanitarian aid efforts.
Streep’s comments come amid growing international concern over Afghanistan’s human rights crisis.
On September 9, during the 57th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Richard Bennett, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, presented a bleak report, detailing the Taliban’s continued repression, particularly targeting women and girls.
Bennett noted the Taliban’s recent empowerment of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforces severe morality laws, including mandatory male guardianship for women, restrictions on their movement and speech, and harsh punishments for non-compliance.
Bennett and other U.N. officials have stressed the devastating impact of these policies, particularly on female-led households. The Taliban’s bans on women’s education and employment have intensified the suffering of millions of families across the country.
Streep’s remarks have garnered widespread attention, with activists and human rights organizations praising her for bringing international focus to the plight of Afghan women.
Despite global efforts, little progress has been made in reversing the Taliban’s restrictions, leaving millions of women and girls in Afghanistan trapped under a repressive regime.
