Should people adapt to cultures or cultures to people?
An analysis of The Indian EXPRESS’ article about Germanys defense minister Ursula von der Leyen and her refusal to wear a burqa during her visit in Saudi Arabia.
Germanys defense minister Ursula von der Leyen visited Saudi Arabia for a meeting with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salam al Saud but she refused to cover her hair for the event and stated that “I try to follow those rules out of respect for the culture. But there are lines for me when it comes to clothing to adapt to a country. I won’t wear a headscarf and I wear trousers.” She furthermore said that “the right to choose your own clothing is a right shared by men and woman alike” according to The Bild, a German newspaper.
Von der Leyens decision and statement stand in a strong contrast to Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel's speech earlier in December in which Merkel declared that the burqa should be banned in Germany wherever legally possible. A comparison that The Indian EXPRESS correctly made.
The article states that “her obstinate will to not abide by Saudi Arabia’s strict dress code for woman has now earned her the irk of people across the world, as is evident on social media.” Besides the minor grammatical error that “irk” always stands alone as “the irk” doesn’t exist, the article unfortunately lacks examples from social media to provide some proof and original sources to their statement. They neither show original posts of those angry people nor did they state what exactly those people said.
Further down the article several tweets can be found as an example of reactions to Von der Leyens action but out of the five tweets only one tweet shows a negative reaction while none of the exampled tweets are from Saudi Arabians.
The article could be improved by showcasing tweets from the Saudi Arabian community as well a more equal contribution of opinions for either side and as mentioned above more original sources to back up what they say. As the Ethnical Journalism Network suggests in their publications it is extremely important to provide sources and to properly listen to the communities.
While the article mentioned the arrest of a Saudi woman who got arrested for posting pictures on twitter of herself after taking off her veil in public, it would be an improvement to the article to put the arrest into contrast as, for example, The Daily Mail in their article did. The Daily Mail reported that people were angry about the hypocrisy of arresting a Saudi woman for breaking the law by taking off her veil while making exceptions for international politicians as one angry twitter user wrote: “Ok so why didn’t they arrest her?” Meant is Germany's minister Von der Leyen. The tweet continues with calling out the hypocrisy and the apparent double standards.
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