By Kendra Weddle, Ph.D.
Special to United Methodist Insight
We watch with horror to see what has occurred in Afghanistan. The Taliban used violence to take over their country and, despite their claims that women would not suffer a loss of freedom under their leadership, women’s rights are being swiftly rescinded. Restricted in their efforts to make a living, to their right to an education, freedom of movement and how they dress, women are at the receiving end of patriarchal power on a rampage.
From our vantage point, the Taliban’s terrible terror is sexism on steroids. How fortunate, we think, that this is not America and we are not like them. So, the banal thinking goes, women here should be grateful for the liberties we have.
What this perspective fails to acknowledge, however, is that within the context of Afghanistan, where civil liberties are not as freely practiced as they are here, the Taliban’s move is proportional to their country’s mores. Similarly, in the United States, where women have enjoyed reproductive rights for approximately fifty years, where women have made significant gains in education and have increased their presence in the workforce (despite still not being paid equally), we stand at the precipice of an equally proportional restriction of rights.
A further parallel can also be drawn: both are motivated, ostensibly, by religion. The Taliban pledged as recently as March 2022 to protect the rights of women under Islamic law. While limiting numerous freedoms for women, the Taliban simply claim they are in line with the principles of Islam even though these are not principles within Islam.
A similar trend is playing out in the United States. On the cusp of overturning Roe v. Wade, the evangelical emphasis on the individual takes center stage, eschewing the complexities of systemic realities. Viewing the fetus as an innocent life (despite scientific input on viability, etc.), and believing women’s primary role to be that of a mother, the majority draw a clear line in the sand. True valuing of life (healthcare, gun control, abolishing the death penalty, addressing poverty, etc.) is absent from their thinking. Instead, they have relied on simplistic, so-called family values, paving the way for American women to lose the autonomy they have gained since Roe v. Wade passed in 1973.
Both cases—the Taliban and Republican power brokers—wield patriarchal power over women’s bodies in order to control them. And in both cases, the role men play with relationship to these bodies is never acknowledged and evaluated.
Can you imagine, for example, how the abortion question would shift if male participation in pregnancies was given the same scrutiny? We have the scientific technology to hold men accountable and yet the attention is solely centered on the pregnant woman. Why is law after law written to control women’s reproductive health, including numerous ways to restrict her decision-making freedoms and yet there are no similarly invasive laws written to restrict men’s reproductive actions? We turn a blind eye to the numerous ways in which male sperm are free to roam, even providing pharmaceutical assistance when necessary, while at the same time telling girls and women if, how, and when they can make a decision about how those sperm will affect their lives.
As we anticipate the future sans Roe v. Wade, let’s do some serious self-reflection about the extent to which patriarchy and sexism are threaded throughout our society and our laws.
To cast a judgmental eye at the Taliban is to fail to see the log in our own.
Kendra Weddle
Kendra Weddle, Ph.D.
Kendra Weddle, Ph.D., is currently serving as Scholar-in-Residence at Northaven Church in Dallas, TX. A former university professor and an author, she is available to lead local workshops, preach, and teach on multiple topics relevant to the local church. For more information and to contact her, go to kendraweddle.com.