Janice Schakowsky: “women in Afghanistan have been suffering incredible human rights abuses since the extremist Taliban regime seized…”

“women in Afghanistan have been suffering incredible human rights abuses since the extremist Taliban regime seized control of Afghanistan in 1996. Today, I rise in solidarity with Afghan women against this misogynist, fundamentalist regime and for women's rights. The treatment and condition of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule is deplorable. Women have been beaten and stoned in public for not being completely covered, even if this means simply not having mesh covering in front of their eyes. One woman was beaten to death by an angry mob of fundamentalists for accidentally exposing her arm while she was driving. Another victim was stoned to death for trying to leave the country with a man that was not her relative. Husbands have the power of life and death over their female relatives, especially their wives, but an angry mob has just as much right to stone or beat a woman, often to death, for exposing an inch of flesh. Women live in fear of their lives for the slightest 'misbehavior.' Women have been forced into poverty and destitution because they are not allowed to work or even go out in public without a male relative. Professional women such as professors, translators, doctors, lawyers, artists and writers have been forced from their jobs and restricted to their homes. Because they cannot work, those without male relatives or husbands are either starving to death or begging in the street.”