...Muharraq Girls' School told their graduates that only female relatives could attend the end-of-year ceremony at the Education Hall. The decision was made to make the students and their families feel at ease, according to the school.
But columnists Sawsan Al Shair, Ali Saleh and Saeed Al Hamad quickly dismissed the unprecedented call as a consecration of the Taleban principles in one of the most liberal societies in the Arab world... [rest of story: Gulf News]
Come on, this is really ridiculous. I can't understand why the scale has become so narrow to compare anything and everything with Taliban?!
Bahrain, just like any other Arab-Muslim country has its traditions which one has to respect. We all know that some traditions root back to religion, but not all, and when it comes to females, it is hard to judge that easily and label everything as related to religion and Taliban version.
It is widely practiced that any student activity at school has to be approved by parents. And normally in end-of-year ceremonies, the students perform some activities, including dancing with specially designed dress and full makeup, etc� this means that the girls who would be participating in the ceremony have had got their parents approval, and the parents know that their daughters will be jumping on stage in that form or the other, but it might have been also agreed that the ceremony will be for girls only, and the parents whose girls are not part of the ceremony team didn�t know about it. Even if the school didn�t announce that before and all the parents know about it, what is wrong with that? Some girls� parents and some of the girls themselves are conservative and/or feel shy to sing and dance in front of males. And I�m confident that those who complained were the males whose girls are not in full makeup on stage. Or even if they had their daughters up there, they should respect others choice of being conservative. I don�t see anything wrong in that. I don�t see Taliban in the picture, so why do we have to stick religion into this?
Contrary to this, if say in the West, or even in the Arab world, some group of girls decided to do a �ladies night� and no men allowed, would they be labeled as Taliban group? Can�t the girls have privacy to dance, have fun and freak out without any reservations? Religion has nothing to do with this. It�s all about privacy and traditions, and this is not a crime!
I just feel sorry how each party jumps to any incident and try to make a fuss out of it for their sake, being it moderates or radical Muslims group.
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You are right, more and more people seem to be jumping around saying “taliban!”. I guess people pick it from the mass media, and the mass media use it because it grabs more atention.
I think it’s only fair that the girls and their parents should decide who gets to attend their graduation. Although maybe they could have compromised and let the fathers watch the girls get the diploma (then leave before the dancing or whatever begins). But as I said, that’s not for me to decide!
OK, now I’m totally bewildered. This is a GRADUATION ceremony, not a “ladies night”. I can totally understand shyness and such and have certainly dealt with the separate gender party issue, but what about the girl’s fathers being denied seing their daughters graduate? You haven’t given too much background as to the exact nature of this school or exactly what is the nature of the ceremony itself. I think Haitham, if your daughter was receiving her diploma after twelve years of hard work and you as her father was so VERY proud of her and expected (I say this because it is a change from past practice evidently)to see her in this moment of accomplishment, you would be ticked off. If the nature of the graduation itself has not changed, I think that is where the female journalist is coming from. Why all of a sudden has this school denied males from attending? It’s not because it’s a “ladies night” it’s because some very conservative people have decided to segregate a ceremony that was not segregated in the past. I think that the whole thing could have been handled differently. If these very conservative people didn’t want their daughters being seen by males, why not change the nature of the ceremony? Keep them veiled head to toe just like conservative people go out in public, heck, let them wear burqas (maybe I’m not using the right word, but I’m referring to the mask type thing) but do NOT deny the fathers of these girls to attend The change in dress code would have certainly been contraversy enough for those who do not share this conservative view, but at least the fathers would not have been left out of one of the highlights of their daughter’s life. If there is a “ladies party” afterwards so be it, that is completely understandable given the culture. There ARE mixed gender schools in Bahrain and obviously these parents have chosen a girls only school option. We have the same option open here in the States particularly with all-girls or all-boys Catholic high schools. While I am not comparing culture to culture, the reason for most parents choosing this option is to keep their teenager’s minds “focused” on school work rather than the opposite sex. Really the same reason when you boil it down just not nearly to the same degree. But being a mother, if I lived in Bahrain and did not share this very conservative view but had my daughter attending this school, I would be PISSED off if my husband was suddenly told he could not see our daughter graduate because some other people have decided he couldn’t come. And if I were a student expecting my father to share in one of the biggest nights of my life I would be absolutely broken down in tears. In fact, I would probably not even attend, and that would be a BIG SHAME all because of some “shy people”. So I think I really differ on this opinion. And using the “Taliban” as a reference to this severe type of separation by this journalist, I think is a well-earned comparison considering the information given that it is an abrupt change in prior procedure concerning a GIRLS school.
So I think Haitham, if you were personally being affected by this you would be PISSED and calling them every name under the sun INCLUDING Taliban and much worse.
OK, me again. I’m seeing the post above and also seeing your reluctance to use the word “Taliban” for this occurance. I think what has happened with this word is that it is being used as a “product” reference concerning ANY extreme segregation of women OR the change in prior practice of a less gender-segrated society. I would compare it to using the word “Kleenex” when refering to all tissues. Alot of people say, “Can you give me a Kleenex please?” instead of “Can you pass me a tissue?” And since the Taliban uses RELIGIOUS reasons for their practices, and I am almost 100% certain in my own mind that the reason for this change in prior practice at the graduation ceremony is based on RELIGIOUS conservatism taking hold at this school (as opposed to purely cultural conservatism) then I personally cannot fault this journalist for using the term “Taliban” when writing about this incident. Personal opinion, but just offering it.
Compromise: Rather than call it “Taliban” maybe we could call it “Wahabi” after Bahrain’s ultra-conservative neighbors over the causway. That way it doesn’t carry such a perjorative moniker :)
Good point Sabbah.
Actually it’s been the new “moda” in the Arab world. Everybody wants to be popular he or she should find something to relate to radical Islamic or taliban. Their ignorance is obvious, they speak just speak and to attract attention.
I just found something REALLY interesting. It seems the Girl’s basketball team from this school took first place in the Bahraini Girls’ championship in May of this year http://www.asia-basket.com/BHR/BHR.asp?women=1 Were men allowed to attend the basketball games or was it women only? The reason I ask is that I’m wondering what they wear when they play basketball and if men can attend I find a major contradiction in not allowing the fathers of these girls to attend the graduation. My suggestion of full burqa at the graduation is certainly more reasonable than banning them altogether if indeed fathers are allowed to see their daughters play basketball. I’m really seeing some irony in this decision to ban fathers if they get to go to a basketball game and watch their daughters jump around in little shorts for sport. Maybe someone knows the answer to this? Not trying to argue, just wondering.
Robin, you raised a number of good points. If my father couldn’t watch me graduate, he’d be pissed off as hell.
I guess this news in general strikes me as weird, because I know a lot of Bahrainis, and the ones I know are so chill about gender relations. But then again, they do study and work in the U.S. Hmm…
maybe they just wanted to have women there. Sometimes you just want to be with the guys and sometimes women just want to be with thier girlfreinds. nothing talebanish(my new word) about it.
Salam
Just a note, the coach of the Muharraq girl’s basketball team is a male.
I am going to have to eat crow about the basketball information. I still have not replaced my glasses (stupid me) and now realize the team I mentioned is FROM Muharraq and is referred to as their girls’ basketball team but is not affiliated with the school. I apologize for the misinformation.
However, I came across this blog http://quixotiq-writings.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_quixotiq-writings_archive.html
which I believe is written by a teacher there because all of the threads refer to the school. It shows men, women, students sitting together during a film screening. The women are NOT veiled but do have on full habayas and head scaves and are sitting next to men in the audience. The caption under the picture reads as such “The screening at the school went pretty well. The response we and the film received was positively encouraging. We had about 70 students and teachers, and a few quests, attend the screening at the school?s learning centre.”.
My contention is that if it’s okay for this, then why not keep the nature of the graduation the same and like I said before, leave the party for later if the girls dancing is the problem. I don’t know, it’s just the mother in me thinking that this graduation is one of the most special events in these girl’s lives and leaving their fathers or brothers out of the celebration is REALLY SAD. I’m really trying to not be judgemental about cultural sensitivities and had to live them myself, but if this is a first time occurance I DO think there is something fishy going on. Besides that, this particular school was the very first girls school in the entire Gulf region, let alone Bahrain from what I have read. So it sort of has a history of being in the forefront of women’s education. Maybe they’re not sad about it and I’m just looking at it from my American viewpoint, but it’s obviously got SOME people up in arms as they see it as affront against female students even IF some of the parents voted for the change. I’ll leave it at that.
I find it ridiculous that men couldn’t attend the graduation ceremony. We are not living in the stone age. If you allow for this to happen – barring men from attending such events – it will only get worse. I truly believe this. I understand tradition, but when does the 21st Century come into play here? I know you can’t possibly think that because some girls are dancing on stage (the pics are usually the paper, btw), that these girls wouldn’t want males present. If they’re so shy, then don’t be in the dance! It’s not like they’re uncovered and that guys will see up their skirts. I think it’s wrong to bring such words as the Taliban into this, because it has nothing to do w/ it, but I do disagree w/ not allowing men to be present. Everyone is Bahraini, right?! Aren’t men raised to respect the women/girls and such. If men got out of hand or started making “cat calls”, then kick them out of the ceremony, but I doubt seriously if that would happen at a graduation ceremony.
It’s sad that you’re comparing this ceremony w/ a ladies’ night out. It is nothing of the same!
it realy annoyes me that they made a big fuss out of it in this school and described it as “taliban principle”, while when i participated in the graduation ceremony of my CHRISTIAN school and men were not allowed to come, no one discribed that that as talibaN OR Talked about “stone ages ” .Yes some men where not happy about that but the majority (i mean girls who by the way are not veiled or conservative )were ok with it ,so others had to respect the majorities decision . And frankly as Haitham said girl felt much free to dress , wear makeup and go crazy ,it was so beautiful .
it shows the double standers people deal with (even some muslims )when non-muslims do it ,its freedom and matter of choice while if muslims do it, its backwardness .
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