22 June 2015

Uproar as Muslim store brings in 'men only' days

If you're a woman and it's a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, you're not welcome at the De L'Orient à L'Occidental grocery store in Bordeaux.

Similarly, if you're a man and it's a weekend, you're going to have to go somewhere else if you want to do your shopping there.

At least, this had been the case until Tuesday morning when the store's owners, who are newly converted to Islam, had put up a sign with these outlines in a bid to ensure the two sexes didn't meet.

The move left authorities unimpressed, reported French newspaper Sud Ouest.

Bordeaux Mayor Alain Juppé called out on Twitter for "an end to such a discriminatory practice".

Naima Charai, the head of French equality group ACSE, tweeted her disdain too, saying that gendered opening hours are "unimaginable and unacceptable". [The Local] Read more