Meryl Streep and Micheál Martin at UN event for women's rights

On Monday, Tánaiste Micheál Martin and actress Meryl Streep led discussion on women's rights in Afghanistan at a UN event in New York.

The conference was part of a United Nations event hosted by Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Ireland, Switzerland, Indonesia and Qatar.

The event included both an address from Martin on “Ways to Include Women In the Future of Afghanistan”and an introduction by Streep to a short documentary The Sharp Edge of Peace, which was screened at the event.

Meryl Streep at the United Nations: A female cat has more freedoms than a woman in Afghanistan,

"A cat may go sit on her front stoop and feel the sun on her face," Streep said. "She may chase a squirrel into the park. A squirrel has more rights than a girl in Afghanistan." pic.twitter.com/poNKpuGAwo

— Natiq Malikzada (@natiqmalikzada) September 23, 2024

She spoke of the limitations imposed on the women of Afghanistan saying, “In the 1970s… there were women in every profession, and then the world upended. And 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," Streep 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.”

Martin echoed this sentiment, writing on social media that "basic rights that Afghan women & girls have lost,” further saying the Taliban's enforcement of tighter restrictions on women earlier this month "is a persecution of a gender & a denial of fundamental freedom."