It's not just about women's rights, its about cultural respect when you come into somebody else's home.
Yes, as I have said, if I were to enter a synagogue I would wear a kippot. This is arguably not the same situation though. As far as I know, Japanese people don't arbitrarily force their custom on a specific part of their population. If it was only black people that, against their will, were required to take off their shoes (and I happened to be one of them), then I would consider challenging said custom. Women don't want to wear hijabs. Would you eat chorizo if you were in Spain?
Sometimes it's important to take a little indignity for the team and help sooth international relations. The receiving country could see something like that as a serious insult, and if it increases the chance of violent conflict, the small gesture at women's rights may not be worth the possible blood shed.
Ok, this is what I meant when I wrote about 'pragmatic reasons' and 'bridging the gap'. The thing is, I am not sure if this is the case. Don't get me wrong, I think that, most of the time, the best thing to do is 'to wear that headscarf', but an argument could be made that not wearing it would be effective altruism. It is unlikely that that 'meeting' (or whatever that was) will not take place only because this female politician refused to wear a hijab. They will probably just send a male representative- These people are concerned about business. If that is the case, by refusing to wear it, you can kill two birds with one stone (horrible idiom).
Do Muslim women really need saving? Anthropological reflections on cultural relativism and its others
- Onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.2002.104.3.783/full
Saba Mahmood: Religious Liberty, the Minority Problem and Geopolitics
- youtube.com/watch?v=5QYjo3VBmoc
I have read that abstract ( I cannot get full access to the article), but I have yet to watch the video. It's pretty long. Would you be able to sum up its message so as to make it relevant for this discussion, maybe?
When visiting politicians take that action they're saying 'we think women's best route to freedom is secular revolution so they can start dressing like us', which can be incredibly detrimental to the diverse strategies women's rights groups are fighting in the country.
I am not sure if I get what you mean. Are you arguing in favor of cultural relativism? Are you saying that slavery or cannibalism are just a matter of cultural diversity? These are genuine questions.
I am not imposing anything on those women. It's them who are rebelling against their custom. I don't want them to stop wearing their headscarves, I want them to have the possibility to choose if they want to wear them or not. I am not forcing them to drink coca cola, I am just saying that if that is what they want to do, then they can have it.
I remember one article in which Singer stood against the idea of separate seating for men and women on buses. I should read it again, but if I am not mistaken the point was that if Jewish law doesn't allow men to sit next to women, then they ( those men) can just avoid taking the bus. That way, religious freedom would be safe- if that is really what is at stake here.