Imagine living in a society where you are literally banned from any participation because you are a woman.

This is the situation today in Kabul, Afghanistan, where women are being forced to comply to a very strict form of Islam that allows them little existence.

The following is information from the Associated Press, the New York Times, “ABC News” and Newsweek.

It started when Taliban soldiers overran Kabul on Sept. 27. The Taliban movement, which was founded Pakistan, has taken orders from Islamic clerks from the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan to change Kabul into a primitive society. Television, music and dancing are now banned, and all citizens must follow a strict form of religion that the AP calls a “hard-line interpretation of Islam,” especially for women.

Whatever the political or religious reasons, the Taliban have stripped women of everything but their livelihood.

For example, if an Afghan woman is not covered completely from head to foot when they are out in public, they are beaten by Taliban soldiers.

ABC News said schools are closing because 70 percent of the teachers are women.

Women, unless they are doctors and nurses, are banned from working in Kabul today because of their sex. Also, any symbolism of women is being torn down, including statues.

Syed Ghiasuddin, an education minister, said in a sermon last week that a woman is like “a rose — you water it and keep it at home for yourself to look at and smell.”

It’s come to a point where you no longer see women on the streets of Kabul.

I could go on, but anyone can see what a blatant form of discrimination all this is.

Sex discrimination is common in Middle Eastern and African countries with high Muslim populations, but it has hardly been so extreme as it is now in Afghanistan.

The United Nations and the United States have threatened to stop aid to the country if such harsh practices continue.

Why is all of the above important?

It’s important because it is Week Without Violence and Women’s Week at Iowa State.

This has been a week of recognizing the concerns of women at ISU and the U.S.

In Afghanistan, it has been a week of denying women their existence in society.

The status of women in the U.S. has increased in the few decades to greater degrees than it has for women in Afghanistan in several centuries.

The status of women declined to virtually nothing in a matter of a few days in Afghanistan.

It’s depressing to make such extreme comparisons, but it is more concrete than this.

For example, women’s right to vote is something our society often takes for granted, but it is a right denied in some countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

The university has Women’s Week and Week Without Violence to address the concerns of women at ISU and how they relate to life in the U.S.

But the real world isn’t just the United States. If women’s concerns are to be addressed, they should be done so on a more global level.

Women do not grow up in societies on equal footing. Those in developed countries usually have a comparative advantage to women in third world countries.

Nor do women always stay in the society they grew up in, which is why it’s important for future programs for Women’s Week and Week Without Violence to also give attention to women and the global societies they live in.

According to the New York Times, more world conferences in recent years have given women more attention than human rights and population.

A good thing, but women’s concerns would be given much more attention if this was done more regularly by all local communities.

It shouldn’t take a world conference to discuss the positive and negative aspects of women in today’s world. Discrimination, AIDS, global politics and other issues are concerns that affect women everywhere.

Afghan women today live in a society that has banned them from any participation. If the U.S. went back to this status in a few days, this would simply be a worthless country to live in for both men and women.

And even if women regained their status from their time in the dark, the U.S. couldn’t regain the reputable position it has in today’s world.

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Shuva Rahim is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.