Sweden's Trade Minister Ann Linde has defended the wearing of headscarves by her and other female officials during an official visit to Iran, saying that the law in the country meant she was obliged to do so.
Linde led a Swedish business delegation to Tehran last week, and she and other female members of the delegation were pictured wearing headscarves during the trip, sparking debate on social media over whether a member of the self-described "world's first feminist government" should have done so.
Jan Björklund, the leader of the opposition Liberal party, has attacked Linde, saying she should not have worn a garment which is "part of patriarchal oppression" and that doing so was "ruinous for feminist foreign policy".
But Linde has fired back in turn, accusing Björklund and the opposition of trying to score cheap points over the matter.
"I think it's so stupid I don't know what to say. The opposite: what has he done in Iran to address women's rights?" she told news agency TT. [The Local] Read more
