Dear John,

An explosion at the Kabul airport on Thursday that injured hundreds and killed 13 U.S. servicemen and nearly 170 Afghan civilians attempting to gain entry to the airport, has only increased the sense of desperation among Afghans whose lives are at risk under a Taliban regime. Hundreds of prominent U.S.-based women’s leaders and advocates continue to call for immediate action by the Biden Administration to assist Afghan women’s rights and human rights leaders and journalists attempting to flee Afghanistan. 

An Afghan woman now living in the U.S., tells Ms. that “everybody’s really, really scared.” She adds: “None of my female cousins are going outside the house because they’re terrified of the Taliban. There’s a lot of talk about the Taliban forcing women into sexual slavery. … I’m a strong woman, and I believe in women’s rights … But all it will take a Talib to silence me is one bullet. That’s it.”

There can be no doubt about what the Taliban’s policies will be for women and girls. Although the official Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid said that “there’s not going to be any discrimination against women,” he immediately clarified that Afghan women “will also be happy to be living within our frameworks of Sharia.”

Under the Taliban’s rule in the 1990s, that Sharia framework meant that girls could not attend school, women could not work as teachers or doctors or in virtually any other capacity, women could not leave their homes unless accompanied by an adult male family member, and were regularly beaten for any violation. These were just a few of a long list of restrictions and human rights abuses inflicted on women and girls. 

As we witness the renewed attacks on women’s fundamental rights in Afghanistan and remember how quickly women’s rights in this country were rolled back during the Trump administration, we are reminded how critical it is that we secure final ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

On Women’s Equality Day on Thursday, August 26 when we celebrate the anniversary of the 19th Amendment that added women’s constitutional right to vote to the U.S. Constitution, a broad and diverse coalition of women’s rights advocates called for ratification of the ERA. 

At a rally on the steps of the Supreme Court–and within view of the US Capitol–former Virginia Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy, who led the successful drive to secure Virginia’s vote to become the 38th and final state needed to ratify, said: “Let us be unequivocally clear: Our fate should not be dependent on who’s in office and our freedom should not be dependent on an election.” She then reminded the crowd of ERA activists, that “laws can change as quickly as legislators change their minds.”

Indeed, in so many ways, the urgency of this moment could not be more clear. 

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor