"...the sexes were mixed aboard the Makt for no other reason than that women were better at certain jobs than men. Every female was accompanied by an older male relative." (p. 727)
That will have to change when the Kirkasanters are in contact with civilization!
Someone once told me that, years ago, when a French nun travelled by train between convents, she had to be accompanied by another nun as a chaperone but the chaperone needed a chaperone for the return journey. Therefore, three nuns travelled out and two returned. The convents paid for five train journeys instead of just one. Eventually, both economics and common sense must have some say.
Nowadays, some governments tell Muslim women that they must wear the hijab and at least one tries to tell them that they should not. Defend women's right to choose what they wear! Support a hijab-wearing woman in France and a hijab-burning woman in Iran.
14 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
If a woman wants to wear a hijab in France I agree that should be her choice, with some qualifiers. E.g., she has to take it off for things like getting photographed for driving licenses and other types of identification. And for going thru security checks at airports.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I have just googled "hijab" to be sure what we are talking about. The hijab covers the hair but leaves the face visible.
In an intensive security check, we all might have to take off more than usual.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But even partial coverings should be removed for ID/security purposes. Our hair, or its lack, will provide "context" to photographs.
Intensive security? One sardonic cartoon I saw years ago shows two terrorists betting 50 dinars that they could force air travelers to fly NAKED!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
ID and security are different. Look at photos of women in hijabs. If that photo appears on a passport and if that is how the woman looks in everyday life and also when she is travelling, then the photo suffices for that purpose.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I still disagree. Hijabs off for ID photographs.
Ad astra! Sean
No need. The woman is fully recognizable. Look at the photos on Wiki. Should Catholic nuns remove their head gear for passport photos? They would then be less easily recognizable.
Kaor, Paul!
I hope you're right.
Ad astra! Sean
Of course, social pressure inside a community can make people say the "want" to wear it.
STARFARERS is an example of the 'wrong way' to do a mixed crew.
You can have a mixed crew with a minority of women if the voyage isn't very long and is under tight, military discipline.
Or you could have a mostly-female crew; that would be much easier, though not without problems.
But a small crew on a very long voyage with four women and six men might as well have been designed to produce murder, hatred and madness. Which is exactly what happens!
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I suspect a fairly large number of Muslim women in Western countries would like to jettison that kind of nonsense, absent the pressure you mentioned.
Anderson probably wrote STARFARERS the way you described precisely to demonstrate the dangers you cited. But the organizers of the "Envoy" expedition had to more or less accept whoever was willing to sign the articles. Not that many wanted to go on a journey lasting ten years ship time and 10,000 years outside the "Envoy"!
Ad astra! Sean
Social pressure is a reason. Another is a statement of identity in response to prejudice.
Sean: It would have been better to cut two positions and go short, or cut the standards demanded and add two more females regardless of whether they actually had anything to do, under some sort of pro-forma cover.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, with me leaning more to your second option.
Ad astra! Sean
The "social pressure" placed on women in Muslim societies is, far too often, BRUTAL. And includes, to this day, limited educational opportunities, "honor killings," genital mutilations, polygamy, etc. And many other restrictions and burdens.
One of the most horrifying things I saw not that many years ago was a video of a Muslim mob in North Africa stoning to death a young girl for the dreadful crime of refusing to marry the man picked by her parents for her.
Let me say at once that Muslims who live in the US are entitled to all the rights and protections conferred on all citizens by the Constitution and laws of America.
Ad astra! Sean
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