A CITY of Greater Dandenong proposal for non-Muslim women to wear hijabs in public has been met with the utter disdain it so richly deserves.

The council has called for women of all backgrounds to don a Muslim headscarf today to raise “awareness and insight.”

MORE: COUNCILS WANT NON-MUSLIMS TO WEAR HIJABS

What absolute harebrained idiocy to encourage empowered Western women to subjugate themselves in the name of diversity.

Could you imagine the enormous uproar if a council put forward a plan for devout Muslim women to remove their head covering.

The unpalatable truth is that the root cause of much of the world’s entrenched misogyny is Islam and it manifests itself in a variety of ways including the requirement for women to cover up.

This is not something to be celebrated or emulated.

Just last year women in Iran were being blinded in acid attacks for breaking the strict hijab code.

I wonder how women who have fled countries that require them to cover their hair feel about local government encouraging women to wear hijabs?

If you are going to put forward these ludicrous ideas then why stop at the hijab?

If we are going to fully embrace the cultural practises of other countries then perhaps we should ban women from driving. Or how about caning adulteresses in the Dandenong Civic Square?

I have no issue with women who want to wear a hijab to observe cultural or religious practises, but they have no right to impose their values on the wider population.

It always baffles me why some folk who leave troubled regions for a better life in Australia seem determined for this country to adopt the political and social norms of their homeland.

In our eagerness to celebrate diversity we are often guilty of betraying our values of equality and freedom; the very values that make Australia such an idyllic place to live.

Local governments should be focused on collecting rubbish, maintaining parklands and balancing the budget instead of moronic schemes designed to appease a tiny section of the population.

Rita.Panahi@news.com.au

Twitter: @RitaPanahi