By: MuslimVillage
Source: MuslimVillage
Almost one year to the date after reports that moves were being made to ban “burkinis” in Morocco there has emerged a movement for female-only beaches.
The UK’s Daily Mail and other news outlets have reported that women’s groups in Morocco are demanding female-only beaches so that they can enjoy their beaches without “disobeying Allah” or “being sexually harassed”.
An activist identified by the name Noor Alhoda, who is described as a feminist, was reported to have said that the women are a “conservative” group who want “to be able to both go to the beach and conform with Islamic law”.
As can be expected in Morocco’s polarized society caught between east and west, the move has been generated its fair share of controversy.
Other activists have voiced strong opposition to the group and the Facebook page that was set up for it. They claim that a female-only beach “would encourage intolerance and gender segregation” which they equate with extremism, invoking the extremist group ISIS to make their point.
Thus this becomes another front line in the battle between piety and conformity that has come to dominate the social landscape in Morocco’s recent history.
Time will tell which trend, if any, will prevail.