They refuse to wear a veil just because the ruling men in their country require that they do so in the temple.

However, "religion'Riyagh in Saude Arabie--require their women wear one":

Associated Press, Daily News: "religion insist even visitors they wear them" (May 2l, 2017). The article is accompanied with pictures, showing Donald T., with no hat, shaking hands with 'Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Saiman, 'picture taken in 'Riyadh'", who was wearing a cloth head-cover which draped to just below his neck. (Moreover, Mohammed bin Saiman is obese, which his draped clothing (in vain), tries to hide.)
----

Hope you can follow all the above. The point being, good for Melanie Trump, and all LDS women who likewise refuse to Vail their faces, just because men dictate they should (the exceptions being women who still go to LDS temples and, obediently, still Vail their faces).

Well I guess that would also put them in company with Hilary C and Michelle Obama.

This makes me wonder...has any Mormon woman been so courageous as to refuse to veil her face in the temple?

Good looks cover a multitude of sins.

Yeah, I noticed that she wasn't wearing a hijab. I'm not a trump fan by any stretch. But good for her!

Also, there's an interesting interview on mormon stories with Omar Kader who claims that the Saudi royal family would like to secularize much more but are hamstrung by the conservative clerics. I wonder if that's true.

puppet Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Also, there's an interesting interview on mormon
> stories with Omar Kader who claims that the Saudi
> royal family would like to secularize much more
> but are hamstrung by the conservative clerics. I
> wonder if that's true.

This is absolutely true. The Saudi royal family is, in large part, extremely cosmopolitan (they go to American and European universities, they are regular guests, AND PROPERTY OWNERS AND RESIDENTS, of regular American and European neighborhoods, they travel widely throughout the world, etc.), and most of them are extremely aware that their country is being held back by the immensely conservative religious establishment in their country---which has a stranglehold, above their royal abilities, on critical elements of Saudi life.

I'm not saying that, individually, they are necessarily "good guys" because I know of too many stories to the contrary (including just "over the mountain" in the area where I live), but most are definitely not "as" bad as is the entrenched religious power in their home country.

pollythinks Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hope you can follow all the above. The point
> being, good for Melanie Trump, and all LDS women
> who likewise refuse to Vail their faces, just
> because men dictate they should (the exceptions
> being women who still go to LDS temples and,
> obediently, still Vail their faces).

My understanding, from several different news stories, is that women who are in Saudi Arabia on official state visits (heads of states like Angela Merkel, spouses of heads of state, etc.) are NOT required to wear head coverings (let alone face masks).

Also: I went to school with someone who had spent several years living in ARAMCO (American oil company) neighborhoods in Saudi Arabia, and there was no requirement that women who worked for, or were associated with, ARAMCO were required to wear head coverings or face coverings when they were outside of their neighborhood, on regular Saudi streets and in regular Saudi neighborhoods and shopping areas. American women had to be "fully dressed" outside their neighborhood walls, but they basically just dressed like regular American women used to dress for Catholic Mass: no shorts, etc.

In any case, a head of state (or the spouse of a head of state), or the employee or associated person, like a journalist, of a head of state, when female, is not subject to those particular rules in Saudi Arabia.

EDITED TO ADD: I just Googled, and www.wikitravel.org/en/Saudi_Arabia says that non-Saudi women are not required to wear head coverings (although having one with you is recommended in case the religious police say it is required, in which case, you do whatever the religious police say to do)...

...and it says that women (including non-Saudi women) ARE required to wear an abaya (the long, loose, black robe) whenever they are outside the "compounds" (the "American neighborhoods" I mentioned above).

Doug (the kid I went to school with) said that women are not allowed to drive (and this is still true, although IRL, according to news broadcasts and You Tube, Saudi women DO drive in certain areas of the peninsula where women driving has become more-or-less accepted in the local culture, especially for "women's work" like grocery shopping, and picking up or dropping off children). Non-Saudi women tourists ARE (still) prohibited from driving (although this would likely not apply to anyone in a presidential entourage). Ditto the requirement that every woman "out" in public must be accompanied by a male guardian---this surely would not apply to non-Saudi women in a presidential entourage.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2017 10:18PM by Tevai.

I am sure that the Trumps were fully advised by the State Department as to what is appropriate and what is not for visiting heads of state and their families.

I've been wondering if she will cover her head when meeting the Pope. I've noticed that women tend to do that. Not sure if it's a rule. A custom, certainly. Does it apply only to Catholics? Are heads of state exempt? I wonder, but not enough to look it up right now.

Were the two Trump women the only females in that room today? It looked like it but I didn't see much of the speech (mostly due to being otherwise engaged) so maybe there were other women in attendance and I just didn't see them.