Society cannot pander to religions that hide women away – Stephen Jardine
Women’s rights must be protected against men who would turn the clock back because of ignorance, prejudice and magical thinking
In every situation, it’s always useful to examine how we would react if the tables were turned. Often that exercise cuts to the core of an argument and exposes fundamental absurdity or injustice. And so it is here.
Imagine a visit by the Women’s Institute to Edinburgh Castle. In advance they demand that no male staff should be on duty or visible at any point because that would ruin their day out… and management weakly comply.
Given the current sclerotic incompetence at Historic Environment Scotland that scenario isn’t exactly far fetched, except of course that the Women’s Institute is a wonderful organisation which believes in equality. Unlike the Hindu religious organisation BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha.
No religion is above the law
Last week hundreds of its members visited the Eiffel Tower while in Paris to mark the opening of a Hindu temple in the city. As a condition of the visit, female staff were told by management to make themselves scarce and stay out of sight. In secular France, that quite rightly provoked fury.
The mayor of Paris launched an immediate investigation and France’s gender equality minister Aurore Bergé could barely hide her fury. “In France, we do not ask women to erase themselves. No dogma, no religion is above the laws of the Republic,” she said.
Even the Eiffel Tower’s management accepted they had screwed up. “It is out of the question to accept such practices,” said Ariel Weil, head of the operating company.
So how on Earth did it happen? Probably because of the familiar misty-eyed, obsequious determination to always be seen as progressive and on the side of a minority, even if it is at the expense of the majority.
“The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of France and we believe it must also be exemplary in the values it projects and the way it treats employees,” said a union representative after staff walked out in protest following the visit.
Equality not as old as you might think
Religions are absolutely entitled to have their traditions and beliefs. Muslim women wear a headscarf, orthodox Jewish women wear wigs, Catholic women are told not to have abortions. Funny how all the demands seem to surround women in religions run by men?
If you are part of that religion, then those are the rules. However it’s another thing entirely for others outside that religion to seek to normalise it in society.
Remember, it’s only 100 years since the Law of Property Act made it legal for women in this country to hold and dispose of assets on the exact same terms as men. There are over 13,000 female centenarians who were alive when that fundamental equality didn’t exist.
We’ve come a long way since then but every step and every advance for women has been hard fought. Now we live in a society where equality is enshrined everywhere but it needs to be protected against men who would turn the clock back because of their own ignorance, prejudice and misplaced magical thinking.
That job lies with all of us and with the organisations and structures which are the pillars of modern life. So BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha are absolutely entitled to make a request to fit with their beliefs as a minority religious organisation. But the majority of us in society are also allowed to give our response to that: No.
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