How easy it is for me to complain about a lack of female friendly businesses in the UK and about ways that many market towards women.
Whilst many businesses do have failings here, such as in the UK motor industry, they’d have to go a long way to compare with shops in Iran where women wanting to buy underwear, for example, may have to go undercover and deal under the counter even to buy their next bra or pack of panties.
Women there have my sincere sympathies for as long as the President Ahmadinejad regime continues.
Last week Iranian police warned shop owners not to display female mannequins wearing underwear or showing off curves as part of a government campaign against Western influence.
In a letter published in the state-owned IRAN Daily, the authorities also stated that men should not sell women’s underwear and advised shopkeepers not to dress models with neckties or bow-ties because these are considered Western and therefore alien to Islamic culture.
Wednesday’s warning also repeated a previous yet unspecific threat not to display ‘immoral pictures’ which usually mean the likes of Western celebrities, music bands or even words written in English.
Thank goodness we live in a liberal society even if it isn’t as female friendly as I’d like it to be.
And whilst this might seem comical to many, how worrying it is to think that the word ‘warning’ may well mean much more than that for offenders.
