So-Called Moderate Muslim Algeria Erases Faces of Female Candidates on Political Posters

So this is what moderate Islam looks like …

In so-called moderate Algeria, the faces of female candidates seeking political offices were erased from campaign posters.

Why?

Apparently, the powers who be in the Muslim world don’t think showing the faces of the female politicos is proper.

The males faces? Those are prominently displayed.

From the Obaservers:

“Political parties in Algeria are gearing up for parliamentary elections on May 4. But on certain campaign posters, female candidates have been presented… without faces, unlike male candidates. The resulting outpouring of criticism has forced the election authority to demand that the offending political parties change their posters.

“Several photos of the campaign posters have been circulating on social media. One of them shows the list of electoral candidates for the Islamist party “Parti de l’équité de la proclamation” [Fairness of Declaration party] in the province of Adrar, in the south west of the country. On the poster there is a person wearing a hijab, who works at the Department of Public Works – but the face has been rubbed out.

“But this is not the only case. On the campaign poster for the Front des forces socialistes [Socialist forces front], an opposition party, three women are shown who all have their faces rubbed out. However, in this instance, it’s not just that their faces have been erased – but that they’ve all been replaced by the same generic drawing of a woman in hijab.

“It’s the same thing on the list of independent candidates, where there are two “ghost women” – one retired and the other a state engineer in agronomy – but this time, they are not veiled.

“These posters have caused controversy in Algeria, where the electoral campaign was officially started on April 9. The daily newspaper El Watan wrote, “the phenomenal appearance of ‘faceless candidates’ is illustrative of the unexpected progress of Islamist ideals in society”.

“The newspaper also writes that it was only in a few cases that the women themselves refused to include their photo.

“Which is why voters are calling into question the legitimacy of these women’s candidacy: will they be capable of standing up for themselves if they’re not even capable of fully admitting to their running for political office?”

Good question.

My money’s on — NO.