On March 8, 2021—International Women’s Day—President Biden reaffirmed his commitment to women’s rights.
“Elevating the status of women and girls globally is the right thing to do—it is a matter of justice, fairness and decency, and it will lead to a better, more secure and more prosperous world for us all,” he told Forbes. Less than a month later, Biden announced his intention to remove American troops from Afghanistan. That decision, made against the advice of his military experts and no doubt with full knowledge of the history of oppression faced by Afghan women, led to the Taliban takeover, which threatens the freedom of every woman and girl in that country.
Let me be clear—as our leader frequently says—Biden’s rhetoric indicating concern for women is the opposite of what his behavior has shown.
When the Taliban gained control of Kabul in 1996, faces of the female populace disappeared from view. Now that the Taliban are again in control, 14 million girls and women are “petrified” of what is ahead of them. And well they should be. The so-called leader of the free world, knowing the chilling treatment the Afghan women faced, still placed a hasty withdrawal of American troops above their wellbeing.
The U.S. State Department cataloged a plethora of almost unbelievable human rights violations between 1996 and 2001. The Taliban forced most women to quit jobs and end education, helping plunge the country into poverty. The brutal tyrants demanded that women and girls as young as eight wear head-to-toe burqas. Blackened windows prevented men outside from viewing the women, who then could not see the sun. Women were prevented from having medical examinations unless fully clothed, resulting in lack of accurate diagnoses and high mortality rates, especially in childbirth.
Police beat or publicly flogged those who happened to expose an ankle or a polished fingernail. The windows of the special busses for women were covered with thick curtains. The Taliban even took dolls and stuffed animals from little girls. Afghan women, who had received the right to vote in 1920 and rose to become legislators, teachers, and doctors, suddenly were not permitted outside their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.
Nothing could have persuaded Biden the Taliban has changed in the past 21 years. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed this recently during a press conference, saying that the organization’s “thoughts, ideology, beliefs” remain unchanged since the 1990s and that women’s rights will be determined according to Sharia law.
We might try to comfort ourselves with the thought that at least our president cares about the rights of American women. Yet that’s hard to square with his advocacy for the so-called Equality Act, a bill that would allow people who identify as women but still possess male organs to be allowed in locker rooms, showers and restrooms previously assigned to females. This same bill would allow transgender women with male genitalia still capable of erections to be transferred to women’s prisons and placed in cells with them. In California, where this is occurring, incarcerated women are searching for methods to arm themselves.
How about in sports? Does the president push for justice and fairness for biological females in, say, track? Sadly no. Instead, Biden advocates for allowing “male bodied” people who say they identify as female to compete against women, who have lower lung capacity and less muscle mass. He calls that fair? Tennis star Martina Navratilova has another word for it—“cheating.”
Again, Biden’s concern is not for the status of women; it is for his own status in the eyes of the vocal extreme left of the Democratic Party.
While speaking to Congress last month about the Equality Act, Biden spoke directly to transgendered individuals “watching at home, especially young people, who are so brave. I want you to know, your president has your back.”
There you have it. Women for whom the president works to provide justice, fairness and decency certainly do not live in Afghanistan. Neither do they live in a free and fair America unless they are born male and desire to identify as female.
Now we understand.