Commentary
Liberté includes freedom of dress
By Linda S. Heard
Online Journal Contributing Writer


Jul 2, 2009, 00:10

The burqa worn by Muslim women is “a sign of subjugation” that is not “welcome” in his country, says French President Nicholas Sarkozy.

Communist Party Member of Parliament Andre Gerin goes a step further. He likens it to a degrading “prison.” But the movement to ban the burqa and the niqab is described by a spokesperson for the French Council for the Muslim Religion as a way of stigmatising Islam and the Muslims of France.

France’s parliament is currently split on the issue, with those against a proposed law that would make wearing the burqa illegal warning this could incite France’s five million Muslims.

Firstly, one might question the French president’s motive for stirring up this potential hornet’s nest. Is he genuinely concerned about the dignity of women or is this another underhand attempt to erode the Muslim culture, as was the earlier banning of the hijab in public schools couched within a law outlawing religious symbols.

There are a number of angles to this story - not least that many Westerners have a visceral dislike of traditional Muslim attire, reflected by a host of editorials in American and Canadian dailies in agreement with Sarkozy’s arguments.

For instance, a headline in the Calgary Herald reads “No sane, free person would choose to wear a burqa.” The writer, Licia Corbella, recounts how she donned the garment for 10 minutes while giving a talk at her children’s school and ended up “hyperventilating from the oppression of it.” She later told the children that “I felt like I was buried.”

That’s her experience and it is probably one I would share should I be persuaded to don a burqa.

I must admit, I often wonder how those women who wear it day in and day out in warm climates don’t pass out from the heat. But nobody is suggesting that France’s First Lady Carla Bruni or Corbella should cover up.

In a free country, it shouldn’t be anybody’s business what others choose to wear or not wear. Admittedly, if girls and women are being forced to conceal their faces, then something should be done about that.

But I suspect that the vast majority of Muslim women in Europe willingly choose to do so for religious or cultural reasons. Many say that wearing the burqa gives them a sense of freedom due to the sheer anonymity it provides.

Other critics in France say the burqa is being used as a political symbol, but when one remembers that most French Muslims are of North African origin, this is nonsense.

I still remember my years spent in Algeria in the 1970s, when most Algerian women were veiled. If young French women of North African descent are choosing to be covered, they are simply adhering to their roots.

And why shouldn’t they when for decades Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians have been treated as third-class citizens in France?

Sarkozy might wish that France’s North African population would assimilate into French society but they’ve never been given that chance. When it comes to accommodation and jobs they’ve been consistently discriminated against.

It seems to me that Sarkozy has no right to impose his cultural leanings or his own interpretation of other people’s culture on citizens within a democracy born on a platform of liberty, equality and fraternity. And if he is so worried about women’s “subjugation” to male demands, then why single out the burqa?

There are many real symbols pertaining to women’s loss of dignity that are deserving of his attention. He could begin with the pimps and their scantily clad prostitutes on display around the country, which offend 64 percent of participants in a telephone survey who agreed that prostitution was “a degrading practice for the image and dignity of the women.”

He could crack down on the trafficking of women, outlaw breast augmentation which has no medical benefits, ban pornographic magazines from newsstands, or even control magazines which idealise the female form and thus inspire anorexia and bulimia in young girls.

On that principle he could even attack the bridal veil, the traditional nun’s habit or the custom followed by Hassidic Jewish women who shave their heads upon marriage. But no, he prefers to focus his ire on a harmless piece of cloth.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Western politicians have attempted to interfere in the way Muslim women choose to dress.

Britain’s Secretary Of State for Justice Jack Straw caused a storm in 2006 when he refused to talk to veiled women at constituency surgeries.

And earlier, in 2001, Laura Bush and Cherie Blair led a brief assault on the burqa worn in Afghanistan, which is still being overwhelmingly worn out of choice today.

As the debate continues to rage in France with calls to set up an investigatory committee, perhaps those who are affronted by Sarkozy’s unsolicited judgments will make their own this summer. Geneva, London and Rome are great at this time of year.