Miniskirt row: Rule of law comes ahead of ideology

A Saudi columnist said that the Saudi woman who strolled wearing a miniskirt in a local heritage village and a Muslim woman who insists on wearing the hijab in France represented the same mentality.

The Saudi woman was briefly detained after a short video went viral on the Internet and split the society between supporters and critics. She was released without charge and the prosecutor closed the case.

Despite warnings from Gulf officials and diplomats and calls to abide by Western rules governing attires in public, several Gulf women tend to wear the full veil, keeping with their home traditions, but breaking local laws.

Both of the two sides, those for the miniskirt and for those for the full veil, and regardless of any religious consideration for their garments, challenge the local laws and systems, Samar Al Mogran wrote in her column in the Saudi daily Al Jazeera on Saturday.

“The main fight that each is branding is how to challenge and not respect the laws of the state. I have read reactions by people who condemned what the Saudi woman did in Ushaiqar while supporting women who walked fully veiled in Paris. I have also read comments by those who supported the Saudi woman’s mini-skirt walk as personal freedom while they assailed the fully veiled woman in France as a violator of the law. I feel that the two sides live in great contradictions where ideological tendencies and inclinations shaped their attitudes.”

Samar said that such contradictions should be addressed by the full respect of the laws governing the country.

“Laws are the principal reference for all behaviours, attitudes and practices. Unfortunately, ideological thoughts tend to challenge local laws on the basis that the ideology is stronger than the law, and this is not true,” she said. “When people consider local laws from a neutral prism, and not through ideologies, the culture of mutual respect will be highly consolidated. This in turn will reinforce the sense of responsibilities and once there is a higher level of awareness and commitments, there will no longer be any room for the culture of chaos.”

source: GULF NEWS