Meryl Streep Goes Viral For U.N. Speech Declaring That ‘A Female Cat Has More Freedoms Than A Woman’ In Afghanistan

Actress Meryl Streep declared that cats, squirrels and birds are granted more freedom than women in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.

After the Taliban took control of power in Afghanistan in August 2021, it gradually strengthened restrictions on women and girls. Women’s bodies need to be entirely covered, and they are prohibited from looking at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.

Streep made her claim about Afghan women’s freedom during an event at the United Nations called “The Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan.”

“The way that this culture and this society has been upended is a cautionary tale for the rest of the world,” Streep stated. “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 added. “She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan today because the public parks have been closed to women and girls by the Taliban. A bird may sing in Cabo but a girl may not and a woman may not in public. This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd.” 

“I feel that the Taliban – since they’ve issued over 100 edicts in Afghanistan stripping women and girls of their education and employment, their freedom of – of expression and movement, they have effectively incarcerated half – half their population and the international community,” Streep stated.

The Taliban banned women in Afghanistan from attending high school, colleges and universities. It restricts women from working the way they did during the Islamist group’s rule of Afghanistan back in the 1990s.

Afghan women cannot leave their homes unless accompanied by a male guardian, father or husband. Otherwise, they will face punishment by the local Taliban leaders. Women are also forbidden from entering public parks, gymnasiums and salons, most of which were shut down since the Taliban acquired power in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s edicts include the demand for women and girls to stay quiet in public. According to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam, a woman’s voice is considered intimate, meaning that she should not be heard singing, reciting or reading out loud.

The Taliban has not shown any sign of altering its stance despite receiving international criticism. It dismissed the foreign condemnation of its harsh edicts on Afghan women, labeling it as an internal matter. 

“Without educated women, without women in employment, including in leadership roles, and without recognizing the rights and freedoms of one-half of its population, Afghanistan will never take its rightful place on the global stage,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated.

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