Fra Angellico’s The Massacred of Innocents counrtesy of wikipedia.org
Does anyone enjoy complete self-confidence, particularly women? Melinda French Gates, the former wife of Bill Gates and one of the richest women in the United States has suffered moments of uncertainty. She relates that when she and her ex-husband attended conferences, Bill Gates drew the attention of those present. Unless I interrupted the conversation, they could have just kept going for the whole meeting. (“Give And Let Give,” by Kezian Weir, Vanity Fair, October 2024, pg. 65)
Despite wealth and power, French Gates suffered a disrespect many women have faced. After 8000 years of prejudice, how could it be otherwise? Females almost lost their human designation by one vote at the council of Macon in 584.
Women in Western cultures have made progress concerning their human rights, but elsewhere in the world, they remain as oppressed as they were in ancient times. The principal offending countries are Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and the Central African Republic.
The Taliban of Afghanistan are the most abusive. They have succeeded in erasing women from all aspects of public life. Denied an education beyond the 6th grade, they are confined to their homes unless accompanied by a male. Even then, they must don burkas that cover their faces, barring them from feeling the sun’s warmth directly upon their skin. A goat roaming the dusty streets of Kabul has more freedom.
Despite the Taliban’s ill-treatment of women, some world leaders have argued the time has come to normalize relations with Afghanistan. The suggestion boggles the mind. The terrorists who occupy the country do so with bullets rather than ballots, making prisoners of the population. Fanaticism is not a form of government.
Those who advocate for normalization, make a pragmatic argument. The territory stands at a military crossroads between East and West, a strategic location in foreign affairs. Western interests, they argue, would be better served if we employed the carrot rather than the stick. The effect might be to reduce anti-American sentiment in the region and make it possible to negotiate a few rights for women.
The advice ignores a simple truth. The Taliban are occupiers and their religious views are intractable. When the world pleaded with them to preserve priceless artifacts, they dynamited those treasures, instead. What’s more, after a 20-year presence in that country, one would hope the United States has learned the carrot does not work.
The Taliban seeks legitimacy in the eyes of other countries because 9 billion dollars in frozen assets are at stake. Yet the prize is not enough for them to grant women basic human rights. Their treatment of them is an internal matter they insist. Proof of the pudding came when representatives of the United Nations met with the Taliban at Doha 3 to discuss improving relations. Not a single Afghan woman was present.
The Taliban will not be tamed, civilized, or tempted with money. Oppressing women is the centerpiece of their philosophy, in the same way that Catholics believe in a “three-personed God,” or the Jews adhere to their Torah. Talk of normalization is particularly offensive to women as no one mentioned carrots when white supremacists in South Africa inflicted apartheid upon black people. The world responded with a boycott. Afghanistan females deserve no less. Or, should we welcome the mounting suicide rate among them as a solution to the problem?
Sexual apartheid is not an “internal “ matter. It’s a red line in the sand. On the question of human rights for Afghanistan women, compromise is out of the question.
