to not know what to think about Le Pen refusing to wear a headscarf

[Neverthelessshepersisted]

Half of me is thinking "she's the national front, she's pretty nasty."
The other half if thinking she's got a point

She was due to meet the Grand Mufti of Lebanon but the meeting didn't happen because of the headscarf.

So confused.....

Women in France are allowed to wear the veil, just not public servants and children and teen at public school. It the face covering that is unlawful.

why is it not acceptable for Lebanon to ask a non muslim woman to cover her head with a scarf yet it is ok for France to ban a muslim woman from wearing a niqab?

One culture wants to enforce covering, the other wants to enforce uncovering. Both cultures have completely ignored the woman's right to choose
What liberty and emancipation is le pen's party talking about? Is liberty just for white western women only?

Marine Le Pen could discover the cure for cancer and I'd still think she was a cunt. Even a stopped clock is right twice per day.

I can't believe you were surprised, she's not known for her liberal attitude to life. Whilst she may want certain things in her own country, you obey the cultural traditions where ever you are. So you wouldn't turn up to Mass in a miniskirt and your boobs hanging out. It's called respect.

She plays the media like a fiddle.

Depressing to see it working so well, even in this thread.

Bonsai the fact that a man of that faith won't have a meeting with a woman WHO ISN"T EVEN OF THAT faith without a fucking headscarf on her head says everything.

Chloe84 - when Charles could have faced public lashes for failing to wear it, it will be equivalent! Besides, the context was a state meeting, not a cultural visit. You know what I mean - there is simply nothing that men have to abide by in the same way.

Bonsai - If the niqab is really such a free choice, without any social pressure, why don't any women from other cultures wear it?

Of course she is right? Why on earth should she cover her head because a particular belief system that she doesn't believe in encourages it?

You do realise there are feminist movements all over the Middle East desperate for woman to realise the pressure they live under from such ridiculous notions? They are utterly bewildered the second/third generation women in the west would choose to do so and it is making their lives much worse.

I will add that Le Pen is receiving growing support from the traditional original Islamic communities in France who settled and integrated very well, thank you very much, and are devastated at the current problems and the consequences for them.

Interesting. There was a hoo-haa in Sweden recently about a female trade minister wearing a headscarf on a visit to Iran. It doesn't seem to have made the press here though.

She did the right thing in not wearing it. Unlike the Swedish women. It just takes Western women to unite on this and refuse it.

I don't see why we have to respect other people's religion/culture when those beliefs are in fundamental opposition to our own. I am willing to respect their right to believe what they want, which is more respect than would be afforded to me in certain parts of the world, but the beliefs themselves, no.

It is all very well to say that wearing a veil is a choice, but in cultures where women are seen as less than men, how much freedom of choice can they really exercise?

Re the respect argument, I don't have a clear enough idea of what she was being asked to respect.

She is being asked to do something that a man isn't asked to do. That is unacceptable.

Asking someone to wear a particular piece of clothing is not respectful of that person's wishes or acceptance that everyone is different

As much as I hate to agree with her, I do. I have huge issues with women covering up in the name of religion when men are not. That includes hijabs and habits.
I recently visited a local mosque as part of a national open day that the Muslim council organised and I wasn't asked to cover my head.

I wouldn't cover my head anymore than I would ask the pope to take his hat off. It's not about respect if you can't have it both ways, it's about control.

I will add that Le Pen is receiving growing support from the traditional original Islamic communities in France who settled and integrated very well, thank you very much, and are devastated at the current problems and the consequences for them.

Have you got a source for that please?

Read the press.

If you are asking for a peer reviewed research study, you won't find it!

Very interesting article in the Times (I think - maybe the Telegraph) last year which opened my eyes completely. I will try to find and link.

Women in France are allowed to wear the veil, just not public servants and children and teen at public school. It the face covering that is unlawful.

In the summer a lady was asked to remove her swimwear choice on the beach though-it covered all of her except her face? Why was this? (Genuine question not goady retort! I don't understand....)

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/french-police-make-woman-remove-burkini-on-nice-beach

I think the burkini is also banned in France. For the liberty and emancipation of women.

I thought the van on bikinis was overturned as being unconstitutional (or the French equivalent) in the courts?

Yes, I stand corrected. it was overturned but some mayors refused to follow the ruling human rights organisation said they would take the mayors to court!