spdl_n1
Muhajababes
Headscarf shop, Souk al-Hamidiyya. Only about half of Syrian women seemed to wear a headdress, and it only seemed to be Iranian Shia pilgrims going for the whole chador-style cover up. Without getting into a political debate over the wearing of headscarves, I think the wearing of coverings has to be viewed through a prism of general public modesty - in Syria even most men will keep their arms and legs covered up in public.
Women are relatively emancipated in Syria, and were long ago granted broadly equal rights under the law, though I think the enforcement of such laws may be a bit patchy, particularly in more rural/conservative areas. Still, unlike the Gulf States, there are plenty of high-profile female businesswomen, politicians and other public figures.
When it comes to women's rights, Syria is certainly not comparable to, say, Scandinavia, but it is most emphatically not a pervasively misogynistic society as per Wahabbist Saudi Arabia or the Deobandi areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It struck me as being somewhat like Italy or Greece must have been like until very recently.
Muhajababes
Headscarf shop, Souk al-Hamidiyya. Only about half of Syrian women seemed to wear a headdress, and it only seemed to be Iranian Shia pilgrims going for the whole chador-style cover up. Without getting into a political debate over the wearing of headscarves, I think the wearing of coverings has to be viewed through a prism of general public modesty - in Syria even most men will keep their arms and legs covered up in public.
Women are relatively emancipated in Syria, and were long ago granted broadly equal rights under the law, though I think the enforcement of such laws may be a bit patchy, particularly in more rural/conservative areas. Still, unlike the Gulf States, there are plenty of high-profile female businesswomen, politicians and other public figures.
When it comes to women's rights, Syria is certainly not comparable to, say, Scandinavia, but it is most emphatically not a pervasively misogynistic society as per Wahabbist Saudi Arabia or the Deobandi areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It struck me as being somewhat like Italy or Greece must have been like until very recently.