A few weeks ago in France there was a bit of a tabloid scandal when a photo surfaced of female French hip-hop artist Diam’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diam’s) wearing a hijab in public. The rap star, known for speaking out about gender equality and poverty, recently married a Muslim man and converted to Islam.

A spokewoman for French feminist organization “Ni Putes, Ni Soumises” stated, “It’s very sad to see her convey a message to a generation who expects her to speak of equality between men and women.”

The rest of the article, including the music video for her single “Ma France a Moi” and a news clip about the burqa sighting, can be found here.

http://muslimvoices.org/french-rapper-diams-converts-islam-dons-hijab/

I found this article fascinating because Diam’s is confronting two issues that seem black and white in France: promoting gender equality while wearing the burqa.  There is definitely a lot of overlooked gray area to the issue (whether or not wearing the hijab is a choice, for instance).