system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Islamic female head coverings are inherently antithetical to sexual and gender equality

The religious mandate in Islam that women should wear head coverings is sexist and antithetical to liberal values and ideals. To me there is no clearer marker of Islamic sexism than the head covering. Islam *does* mandate that all people dress modestly in the Qur'an, but Muslim men are allowed to get away with a t-shirt and jeans, are generally able to wear far more casual clothing, and the modesty imposed on them is significantly less than that imposed on women. This is an issue both in Christianity (particularly Russian Orthodox Christianity where women are encouraged to cover their heads in church) and Orthodox Judaism, but neither of those are defended even nearly as much by those left of center on the political spectrum, nor are they as prominent or as common among large populations are head coverings are in Islam. I take issue with other religions mandating it as much as I take issue with Islam for the record.

The argument usually presented against this is that 1. often times women, especially in America/Europe, will wear hijab against their father's wishes, and 2. hijab serves as a form of liberation from western sexual objectification and commodification of sexuality. Certainly this is a deciding factor among many women who choose to wear hijab, but this is a very Amero-centric perspective on why women wear it, and most women in places such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, or most non-strictly secular Islamic-majority countries wear it either due to legal pressures or societal pressures, the former showcased in places like Iran where women are fined and sometimes even beaten for not wearing hijab, the latter showcased in places like Iraq or conservative areas of Lebanon where a woman who chooses not to wear hijab is often times ostracized from her family and socially shamed. When women do choose to wear hijab in places less strict about it such as Palestine or Jordan, or in non-Muslim majority places such as the US, even if it's for the aforementioned two reasons it's still the conscious enforcement of a modesty law levied far more harshly and publicly on women than it is on men.

I don't think any legal or social action should be taken against it other than simply changing public perception of it to one being that it is a sexist practice that shouldn't be defended as vehemently as it is now. Of course attacking or berating or even saying anything negative to women wearing hijab for wearing hijab isn't okay, but neither is it great that it is defended so much by liberals, nor is it okay that it is ignored in the fight for women's liberation while many of the same people who ignore it will deride churches for not accepting female pastors or for perpetuating their own sexist practices.
gpt
>To me there is no clearer marker of Islamic sexism than the head covering.

Really? Maybe it is a little sexist, but there are far worse things happening to women in Muslim countries than this. It is by no means the clearest example of Muslim sexism.

While you're worrying about how women have to dress, 10-year-old girls are being forced into marriages and raped by their husbands, and half the Islamic world has no problem with that.