If you notice the photo further down in the Daily Mail article, taken some time before the shooting, Malala is wearing a loose head covering. If that’s her choice, and/or the tradition where she comes from, then it makes sense that her caretakers would do the best they could to respect that and keep her head loosely covered.
But I agree that the choice to cover her head in the photo may have been at least as much to cover up the wounds and a partially-shaved head for the photos, as for religious or cultural reasons. Part of caring for a patient is respecting her dignity, and fourteen is such a sensitive age, when a young person’s appearance is very important to her.
You’re going out of your way to take this thread off track. And, you’re comments are better suited to a Pit discussion of another culture/religion. Don’t do this again.
If I do it once per year, then I am amazed at my forbearance. I repeat, I forgot this was a forum (by which I mean SDMB) which holds a specific worldview about certain topics, such as the one which is the subject of this thread.
You never would have got a warning if you’d said the same thing in the pit.
If you wish for people on this board not to associate Islam with constraining attitudes towards women, start by accepting something as simple as a woman wearing pantsuits.
If I understood correctly the language rules for the Pit (just checked to make sure I hadn’t gone overboard calling another poster a bigot), GFY would have gotten him? in trouble there, too.
I’m amazed at how lucky this girl was. I think she must have been seated in the bus and the guy standing when he shot. The article said the bullet went in above the eye and then straight down into her shoulder. They’re calling it a glancing blow to the brain.
She’s already writing notes to the staff. They’ve helped her briefly stand. Amazing after only ten days. I wonder just how much impairment she’ll have. They won’t know for a few months.
I followed Giffords’ case and she also got shot above the eye. But it went straight across to the back of her skull. It was several months before she was standing with assistance.
Wikipedia has information on how hijab is practiced culturally and legally in various countries:
You are actually more likely to find countries where there are legal restrictions against veils than ones where veiling is required.
Hijab is different things to different people in different places. In some places, it’s a political statement that is often aligned with specific parties or youth movements. In other situations, it is a sign of religious devotion. Sometimes it’s a trendy fashion statement that you buy in the mall and show off to your friends. Sometimes it’s just habit or custom and nobody things any more about it than you do when you put on a sweater. In some climates, it’s a very practical piece of clothing that shades you from the sun or provides warmth. In very poor places where cloth is a major expense, it can be a sign of wealth and prosperity. For some there is a lot of family pressure to wear it. For others, there is a lot of family pressure not to wear it.
Likewise, practices vary. Some people never step foot in public without a veil. Others only wear one for formal occasions. Others wear it when they feel like it and not when they don’t. Some people try it out in college when they are experimenting with their identity. Other take it up in their old age. Some people put a lot of thought into it. Some put no more thought that you put into buying a pair of socks.
If you want to appear particularly devout, you’d probably wear whatever your area’s version of the hijab is whenever you are around unrelated men. Indeed, some people would be very uncomfortable without covering whatever they are used to covering, much like we cover our breasts with those ridiculous paper robes even though we know the doctor is going to give us a breast exam. I’ve seen people in hospitals wearing headscarves, but it’s more of a dignity thing that anything else. When you are really, really, dying sick, then you may not bother to get dressed. If you are pretty sick, you may spend the day in pajamas. But if you are really fighting to get better, it may feel good to put on real clothes and present your most dignified face to the world.
Especially, you know, if you knew you were going to be on the news all over the world. Would you want to be all over the news in the equivalent of your bathrobe?
Exactly. If this is what you have grown up with and are comfortable with… it may not “feel right” to dress differently.
When I have this discussion here in Canada, I point out “what if you moved to some place like, say Hollywood’s version of Malibu and all the women ran around in bikini bottoms and crop top teeshirts without bras. Would you as a 40yo woman immediately start running around like that?” many women are uncomfortable (unless they are 20 and paper thin) just wearing a midriff-exposing shirt. That’s likely how some foreigners feel when being told they should uncover beyond what they are used to.
Of course, being told they must cover up when they don’t want to? That’s what is a violation of human rights. Oh, wait, that’s what parents here tell their teen daughters all the time too - “you’re not going out dressed like that!”
Full disclosure - I live in the US, grew up as a Hindu in India and went to Catholic school and am not very religious. My views maybe biased so feel free to correct me if you find them lacking evidence.
The problems with mandatory Veils is that it is usually accompanied by male dominated cultures with women taking the backseat. In India there are many Muslims who are more liberal (do not adhere strictly to the Islam as interpreted by the Mullahs). Typically women in these liberal Muslim adherents are more likely to be well educated, have careers and do not wear veils. It maybe mere correlation but among Muslim sects/cultures you can predict how progressive they are by the mere fact as to how widespread hijab is practiced.
Culture, religion, geography, textiles, etc, all effect attires. To me, mandatory hijab is a sign of female oppression since the origins at based on female subjugation. I do understand that women who grew up wearing the hijab like to continue it - to me that is like Stockholm syndrome.
I’ve talked with nurses from Muslim countries. Their hospitals have men’s and women’s wings. The women’s wing is staffed by only female attendants and the men’s with male.
The women are uncovered when alone with only other women.
A western nurse I know once worked postpartum in an American hospital in Saudi. Many of the locals would go there for classes. One day she was doing a breast feeding class and a western doctor interrupted. All of the women threw their shirts over their heads, exposing their breasts. My friend was taken aback. She asked them why they would expose their breasts. They told her that if the offending male saw them on the street he wouldn’t recognize them.
There were three men: a Priest, a Pastor and a Rabbi. They grew up together and when they were kids always went skinny dipping on the weekends.
After a nostalgic meeting they decided to go skinny dipping that weekend.
So they went out to their old swimming hole. They were in the water, when they heard voices.
They made a mad dash toward their clothes on the bank, but before they made it the three biggest gossips in town came walking around the bend, one from each church.
The Priest, and Pastor, immediately covered their manhood. The Rabbi covered his face.
After the gossips left, the Pastor, and Priest said to the Rabbi, “What were you thinking?”
The Rabbi replied, “I don’t know about you, but my congregation knows me by my face!”