Michelle Obama goes without a headscarf in Saudi Arabia. Big deal?

Ms. Obama leaves her hair unveiled in a visit this week to Saudi Arabia, gaining a lot of attention on Twitter.

|
Carolyn Kaster/AP
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stand with new Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

Tuesday, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stepped off Air Force One at the VIP airport terminal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to meet with new King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud. They met the king and other regional officials to pay their respects following the passing of King Abdullah. While officials planned to discuss the Syrian civil war, the political situation in Yemen, and the campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq, one thing in particular made the headlines.

The first lady’s attire.

Ms. Obama deplaned in full-length trousers and a long, loose-fitting jacket that fully covered her arms. Yet she did not wear the traditional head scarf, which is part of the strict dress code for all Saudi women.

According to the Washington Post, over 1,500 tweets were written on Tuesday by Saudis expressing their distaste over the first lady’s decision to leave her hair uncovered. The hashtags translated loosely to “#Michelle_Obama_Immodest” and “Michelle_Obama_unveiled.” Some users pointed out that in the Obamas' trip to predominantly-Muslim Indonesia in 2010, she observed the religious and cultural practice and wore a headscarf.

Why did she not do so in the ultra-conservative Saudi?

While other dignitaries have donned scarves during visits to Saudi Arabia – such as the Duchess of Cornwall in 2013 and the Queen of England in 1979 – it is not required for foreign visitors to abide by the country’s dress code. Condoleezza Rice, the former US secretary of State who joined the Obamas on the trip, also left her hair exposed.

Ms. Obama is not the only first lady to not adopt the headscarf. Hillary Clinton, who traveled to the country in 2011, and Laura Bush, in 2006, also opted out of the covering, reported The Telegraph.  

The BBC reported that while it may appear at first glance that Saudis did not approve of Ms. Obama’s decision, that may not be the case. BBC Monitoring tracked the criticism and found that many of the tweets used the hashtag to call for more freedoms in Saudi Arabia, while others poked fun at the situation and of conservative regulations. Only 37 percent of the tweets using the “Michelle Obama with no headscarf” hashtag came from Saudi; most were from US users, according to the BBC.

Emily Greenhouse of Bloomberg Politics wrote in her blog about how Ms. Obama has often used fashion as a statement, political or otherwise. And as first lady, her decisions have far-reaching repercussions.

“As a visible woman and public figure, Michelle Obama’s appearance is a frequent topic of conversation and commentary, all the more because of her race, her height, and her singular, superlative stature,” Ms. Greenhouse wrote. “The mother of two girls, the first lady has quietly but forcefully made clothing . . . a political flash point.”

Whether Ms. Obama intended to make her attire a “political flashpoint” or not, it continues to push discussions of the expectations put on her as a woman and dignitary while visiting conservative countries.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Michelle Obama goes without a headscarf in Saudi Arabia. Big deal?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0128/Michelle-Obama-goes-without-a-headscarf-in-Saudi-Arabia.-Big-deal
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe