US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's tour of a Damascus souk this week with a scarf on her head is provoking worldwide debate that crosses religious, political and gender-ideological lines.
The Reform Party of Syria thinks Pelosi's wearing of a scarf on the streets of Damascus (and not just in a mosque) is "a statement of submittal [sic] not only to oppression but also to lack of women's rights" in the Middle East. "No one will ever know how many women took the Hijab on after seeing Pelosi wearing it," an entry on the party's website says, adding that "the damage Speaker Pelosi is causing with her visit to Syria will be felt for many years to come."
Meanwhile, left-leaning webloggers remind their readers that head covering has been worn by Laura Bush, Condoleezza Rice and other Western women when visiting Muslim shrines – and even when in the Vatican.
The Reform Party of Syria thinks Pelosi's wearing of a scarf on the streets of Damascus (and not just in a mosque) is "a statement of submittal [sic] not only to oppression but also to lack of women's rights" in the Middle East. "No one will ever know how many women took the Hijab on after seeing Pelosi wearing it," an entry on the party's website says, adding that "the damage Speaker Pelosi is causing with her visit to Syria will be felt for many years to come."
Meanwhile, left-leaning webloggers remind their readers that head covering has been worn by Laura Bush, Condoleezza Rice and other Western women when visiting Muslim shrines – and even when in the Vatican.