Disclaimer
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2010
The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent anyone else's view in any way, including those of my employer.
© Copyright 2010
France is considering banning the burqa and the same idea seems to have support in England.
But banning the burqa is a bad idea. I do find the concept of the burqa offensive, repressive and a restriction of womens’ rights. But this is one issue that can’t be resolved by simplistic state intervention.
As an atheist, there is no logical justification to why a woman would choose to wear a burqa or have the wearing of it mandated by society. But as a matter of culture and religion, women do choose to wear a burqa. As much as I find the practice distasteful, banning the burqa will clash with religious rights that a secular society should protect. There is a great discussion from Irish radio on the burqa that covers all sides and shows the issue to be quite complex (third item down – Newstalk Ireland’s Wide Angle Program).
Banning the burqa in France, England or Australia will not help women in Afghanistan. Nor will it even help Muslim women in France. If Muslim woman can’t wear a burqa then their participation on society could be severely restricted. It also could strengthen notions of persecution reinforcing the patriarchal control.
But a liberal democratic society will not stop the wearing of burqas by banning them. It will stop the wearing of burqas through debate and discussion pointing out how the burqa is a sign of oppression against women and pointing out the problems. As the Muslim population engages in such debates, a younger population comes through more attune with the ideals of liberal democratic country. Then there will be no need to talk about banning the burqa as the practice will become marginalised and considered belonging to the past.
Taking away a freedom, now matter how distasteful we find it, will not create a freedom.
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9:21 am - February 15th, 2010
Agree absolutely!
6:56 pm - February 15th, 2010
I also think it’ll make it cooler for the younger ones. Left to itself, outside the tribal society of origin, I can’t see the burqua/niqab surviving more than a generation.
5:12 am - March 17th, 2010
Not so sure you are right.
As a third generation atheist and active feminist I think burqas are part of Sharia law, which has no place in Australia. In London, folk have been protesting to say just that : Sharia law has no place in a secular society.
The burqua takes away a woman’s identity….and I don’t believe her free choice was exercised , but a burqua covered woman is so because of her husband’s command .
To the public…..this covered woman no longer has an identity. Our faces are our idnetity and wearing of a burqa means a non identity woman being in public. This is uncivilized to allow a woman to be cloaked, punished because she was born a woman.
So as you can see, I support the French ban and would support a ban on the wearing of burqas in Austalian public because I’m committed to a modern secular state where every citizen has an identity in our public society.
Currently we allow the wearing of burqas in our public universities and I think a ban needs to be enacted immedialtely to allow all students to participate with an identity. As far as I know these are International students from Saudi Arabia……………not Australian born Muslims…yet.
And I don’t accept it as a question of a cultural belifs. It is a question of secular human rights.
And i’m delighted to find a web site having such a discussion.
10:09 am - March 21st, 2010
Thanks for the comment Jane and apologies for not reply sooner.
Whilst I agree that Sharia Law has not place in a secular society, I’m not convinced that the act of wearing a burga is solely based on the husband. I have heard testimonies of Muslim women stating that they chose to wear the burqa for various reasons but ultimately it was their choice. Now I may think the reasoning may be wrong but I’d say the issue in Australia or the UK is far different from Afghanistan were women do not have much of a choice.
The questions of identity is an interesting one but can a woman who wears a burqa still be making a statement about her identity? Even if we find the burqa distasteful and offensive a modern secular society should not ban the wearing of one. That has can make the burqa a symbol of defiance and likely harm feminist actions within the Islamic communities aimed at reducing misogynistic practices.