Via JP (Denmark):
Educators, teachers and campaigns will convince immigrants that their attitude towards women is wrong, says the government.
Let by Integration Minister Søren Pind (V) and with support from several ministers, the government will attack the attitude towards women that - they say - is prevalent among some immigrants of Muslim culture.
The "national strategy against forced marriages and oppression' will combat such things as reeducation trips, and have teachers, educators and campaigns to convince immigrants that their attitude towards women is outdated. This will prevent forced marriages and other types of oppression.
Integration minister Søren Pind (V) says that it's not a dialog, but an effort at influencing. People have been very afraid of it, because they fear entering people's personal space, but we also can't accept our society changing this way. There are some cultural norms surrounding Islam which are a huge problem for women. He stressed that it's possible to be a Muslim without oppressing women.
Pind says he doesn't have a problem with the state working on changing attitudes. "There is right and wrong, because there's freedom and lack of freedom. It's as simple as that."
Equality minister Lykke Friis (V) agrees, saying that it's part of our overall confrontation with passive tolerance, when we are reluctant to specify the norms and values of Danish society. Friis fears that more immigrant women are in trouble, after increasing numbers of reports to shelters and hotlines.
Denmarks' teacher's union rejected the strategy as 'populist'. Chairman Anders Bondo Christensen said he's against campaigns for specific populations, and that there are Danish women who are oppressed.
