This week, a girl was stoned to death, Katy Perry was declared the highest earning female in music and Kendall Jenner celebrated reaching 40 million Instagram followers by flashing an underboob.
Katy Perry’s success was, rightly, celebrated across headlines globally. She earned an enviable $135m, largely due to the astounding success of her Prismatic World Tour which grossed an excessive of $2m in every city she visited. She played 126 shows which is an impressive feat that should never be undermined.
Kendall Jenner, well, she’s Kendall Jenner and regardless of her actions, the fact that she could, without much disruption flash an “underboob” to her 40 million fans is a noteworthy occurrence.
And then a 19-year-old girl was stoned to death in Afghanistan. CNN reports the homicide of a “woman” as barbaric killing, one that has caused outrage. But the teen, identified only as Rokhshana is not a woman. She’s a girl, she’s a would-be-second-year-in-college, trying-to-find-herself girl. She was not a woman.
This week, a girl was stoned to death.
Reports claim that the girl had been forced to marry against her will and recently fled with another man. Seema Joyenda, the governor of Ghor province told reporters that the couple were caught after two days, and the Taliban leader of the village ordered that Rokhshana be stoned to death for adultery.
A video surfaced, showing the girl, held captive in a hole, surrounded by men. Her screams become deathly as men repeatedly stone her.
Joyenda, one of two female governors in Afghanistan, said she cried as she watched the video of Rokhshana’s killing.
“It was really inhumane,” she told CNN.
But she said provincial authorities had so far not been able to do anything about the atrocity in the village of Aurdak, which the Taliban has controlled for nearly three years.
The juxtapositioning of these three stories is shrilling.
We must of course, continue to acknowledge the successes of powerful women. We must write and read the stories about Katy Perry. We must also celebrate Kendall Jenner’s freedom (regardless of what she does with it). But we can’t forget that there’s still a long road to equality. There are women that are not free. We need to remember that this is why we need to be feminists, fighters and influencers.
We must remember that this week, a girl was stoned to death, Katy Perry was declared the highest earning female in music and Kendall Jenner celebrated reaching 40 million Instagram followers by flashing an underboob.
If you are affected by this story visit amnesty.ie to find out more.
