French president Nicolas Sarkozy and lawmakers in France are considering banning the burqa, the full robe that covers the head and entire body that some Muslim women wear. Like the Swiss minaret ban on mosques, the proposed burqa ban is indicative of the cultural clash between the growing Muslim population in Europe and Europeans.
Proposed French Burqa Ban
French lawmakers are conducting a parliamentary inquiry into the feasibility and consequences of instituting a partial ban on the burqa in France. The proposed ban would prohibit women from wearing the burqa in public places. Women who insisted on wearing the full veil despite the ban would be prohibited from public services, such riding public transportation, receiving care at a hospital, entering a bank, and so on, and could be fined over $1,000.
Supporters of the Ban on Full Veil Worn by Some Muslim Women
Many French legislators and citizens are leery of the burqa because they view it as a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic oppression of women, and the threat of Islamic terrorism. According to the Ipsos poll in Le Point magazine, supporters of the anti-burqa legislation total nearly 60 percent of French citizens. Proponents of the ban say the burqa challenges the secularism of France and also makes it difficult to identify women in public places.
Mona Eltahawy, op-ed contributor to the New York Times wrote, “I am a Muslim, I am a feminist and I detest the full-body veil, known as a niqab or burqa. It erases women from society and has nothing to do with Islam but everything to do with the hatred for women at the heart of the extremist ideology that preaches it.”
Expressing much the same sentiment, President Sarkozy was quoted in the CNN article “France moves closer to ban on burqas” as saying, "The problem of the burqa is not a religious problem. This is an issue of a woman's freedom and dignity. This is not a religious symbol. It is a sign of subservience; it is a sign of lowering. I want to say solemnly, the burqa is not welcome in France."
Opponents of the Ban on Muslim Women Dress
Opponents of France's anti-burqa resolution view the proposal as politically sanctioned persecution of Muslims and as governmental legitimizing of irrational fears of Islam. Mabrouka Boujnah, a teacher originally from Tunisia, is quoted in the Guilfordian as commenting, "[If] you are going to isolate these women [with legislation banning the burqa] . . . you can't say that it is Islam that has denied them freedom, but that the law has.”
Others who do not support the proposed French burqa ban note the irony inherent in French politicians’ argument against the burqa. At the same time that politicians contend the burqa is a symbol of Muslim women’s subjugation and victimization by what they view as a male-dominated and oppressive religion, they propose to mandate what Muslim women can and cannot wear.
Additional opponents of the ban note that wearing the burqa is not a religious mandate in the Quran but rather a cultural development. Dr. Noreen Kassem, writer and social commentator, observed, “Wearing a face veil should not be something that any man or government should impose and removing it is not something that any man or government should impose. If it is acceptable for women to appear in public with very little on, it should be acceptable if a woman chooses to cover up.” Dr. Kassem also remarked on the discrepancy between societal views of a nun's wearing of a habit as pious and a Muslim woman's wearing of a burqa as “extreme, oppressed, or both.”
Some non-supporters of the burqa ban affirm that many Muslim women who choose to wear the full covering do so by their own free choice, for a variety of religious, cultural, and modesty reasons, not because the men in their family force them to. Sneha Krishnan explains in her article "We Love Islam, So We Wear Burqa, "A lot of women in Europe, India and West Asia have found their cultural identity in the folds of this robe-like garment. They choose to wear it because it gives them a sense of comfort and religious belonging. They are not forced and simply choose to dress this way."
Challengers of the burqa ban also point out that fewer than 2,000 Muslim women in France actually wear the burqa, which amounts to a tiny fraction of the country’s total Muslim population of around 4 million. Dr. Kassem noted, “Focusing on this non-issue causes discrimination, prejudice, and misinformation."
Real Motivation for Proposed French Burqa Ban?
Is the primary motivation for the proposed French burqa ban a subversive means to politically persecute Muslims for their religion and culture or a valid means of combating radical Islam’s subjugation of women incompatible with the values of France? While supporters and opponents of the burqa ban debate the true motivation behind the proposal, the cultural division between Muslims and Europeans in Europe widens.
Aimee Larsen Stoddard - Aimee is a professional writer/editor. She has a BA in English and is currently completing an MS in Theology.
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