Sarkozy's Rejection of the Burqa Will Only Further Marginalize Muslims

Muslim women locked in a tyrannical chokehold by Muslim men can rest easy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is ready to rescue us.

In a breathtaking moment of hubris, Sarkozy in a speech to France's Parliament said there is no place for the burqa in France.

"In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity," Sarkozy said. "The burqa is not a religious sign, it's a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement -- I want to say it solemnly. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic."

For the record, I wear the abaya and niqab in Saudi Arabia. I wear the abaya and niqab because it's my choice. Contrary to popular Western myth, the abaya is not forced on women in Saudi Arabia. As an Islamic country, women are only required to cover the details of their body. While I am living abroad I wear a different style and color hijab that is conducive to the environment I live in. I choose not to wear the common black abaya in the United Kingdom for my own personal reasons that are nobody's business but my own. But if I ever decide to put on the abaya and niqab the way I do in Saudi Arabia that also is my own business.

Sarkozy is echoing what many French lawmakers have been demanding the past few years. They want to create a commission to examine the possibility of a full-scale burqa ban. The issue is divisive as some lawmakers say it will create tensions between France's Muslim population of 5 million people and non-Muslims.

Sarkozy provides us with yet another example of how Western nations define human rights and the oppression of women. It's assumed that if a woman is wearing the burqa, it is forced on her. Because, really, who in their right mind would wear such a thing?

But in Saudi culture the abaya is part of our identity, an identity that most of us happily embrace. Young Saudi girls often emulate their mothers and older sisters by wearing the abaya before they even hit puberty. This differs little from young Western girls who wear their mothers' clothing and high heels.

Although there are certainly cases in which women are forced to wear the burqa or abaya, the majority do so because they want to. The French government will be faced with the task of how to determine who embraces the burqa and who is forced to wear one. It appears, however, that France is willing to consider the easy route by simply banning it all together rather than bother itself with considering what Muslim women want.

There seems to be the misconception that wearing the burqa excludes women from participating in French society. Somehow the burqa prevents women from asking the clerk at the grocery store what's on sale, having parent-teacher conferences at their kid's school, or running for municipal office.

What the French government is demanding is that Muslim women become active members of society under the government's rules. Rules that apparently don't apply to Hasidic Jews or Catholic school girls forced to wear pleated skirts and knee-high socks. These forms of cultural and religious dress are acceptable by Western standards, yet Muslims are excluded from the club.

By imposing a dress code the government sets the parameters of social etiquette. In effect, by mandating a dress code the French government excludes many Muslim women from society. Muslim women who believe it's their right to wear the burqa simply will not leave their homes. They will not engage the grocer and their kid's teacher. They will not run for public office. The oppression will not come from their culture or religion, but the French Republic.

What is lost in the hubbub of public debate over this cockamamie burqa ban proposal is that we allow our civil liberties to slowly erode. In 2004, the hijab, along with other religious symbols, were banned in France's public institutions. Today the French take another step by considering banning yet another piece of clothing. Tomorrow? Will the French see the Islamic requirement of praying five times a day a sign of oppression and implement a ban? Will it decide that Hasidic Jewish women's scarves and conservative dress required by Jewish law is oppressive? Where do they draw the line between oppression and freedom?

The Muslim community has always viewed France as friendly and tolerant. Now France's Muslims find themselves more marginalized than ever as the West continues to determine what is best for them. France should know better. There are many French citizens alive today who remember when one segment of French society was once ostracized, had its religious and cultural symbols stolen or destroyed, denied the right to worship or wear clothing that identified their religion, and ultimately put to death. It seems that France is on the path to revisit that part of their history.

Comments

[MBoyer]

Your article is not that convincing in my opinion first of all Catholic school girls wearing pleats and wearing a black sheet in public that covers 98% of your body is not comparable. Also I know for a fact that in Riyadh Saudi Arabia women are forced to wear the Abaya. My mother-in-law lived there for 5 years recently and would tell me about how the Fatwa (religous police) would slap her ankles with a stick and tell her "White woman cover your head" if she went to the market wihtout one. Once she was in a car accident with her boyfriend and since unmarried women are not allowed to be in the same space with a man not related to them - she left the car injured and walked away to avoid being arrested. Say what you will about your freedom but that's not what I'd call freedom. So why is it ok in Saudi Arabia for the Fatwa to slap Western women with sticks - can you imagine the controversy if that ever happened in France?

[josefz]

How can you cling to a culture with a dogma that represses women. Speak for yourself, as anyone with an education would be crying to be free of the chains that Islam puts on 'their' womens necks.

Education is the answer, be freed of the religious constraints put forth by ANY religion. There is no god, no prophets, no santa.

......Wake up to the 21st Century.

[PaxMundis]

"Speak for yourself, as anyone with an education would be crying to be free of the chains that Islam puts on 'their' womens necks."

She is speaking for herself, you just don't agree with what she's saying. There is nothing more obnoxious than one group (usually but not exclusively Westerners) telling another group (usually but not exclusively Muslims) what to do for their own good.

[Suresh Kari]

So a women travelling to Saudi Arabia ( non-muslim) would be FORCED to cover the details of her body, and this seems to be right and accepted???
Then why there is such a hue and cry if France FORCES women to uncover the details of her body???
Why can't you digest it????????­??????????­?????????

[TheyCalledMeSandN]

there is an excellent new egyptian movie out now that touches on this.. yosry nasrallah's Ehky ya shahrazad.

there is a kind of hijab that veils the mind not just the body. it makes people unable to see the larger picture. i say remove both mental and bodily hijabs.

[TheyCalledMeSandN]

ms. Jawhar. as a person born muslim I have to disagree with you. insisting on wearing the burqa in a society in which it is a fundamentally alien and foreign symbol is what will further marginalize Muslims. even if you think the burqa is a religious thing, wish it is not, then follow the teaching that says (el din yusr laisa 'usr) "religion is ease not difficulty" and if wearing a piece of cloth makes your life difficult in the society you chose to live in then DON'T DO IT!
listen, i am a student of postcolonialism and such but truth must be said. the west has accomodated minorities in ways that muslim society in which minorities have existed before there were even muslims are not able to do (Egypt for example) for long there has been a prayer room in airports in Paris and such, we do not provide equal respect to those who are non-believers.
long story short. i think to demand that french society must accept the burqa is unacceptable my mother does not wear a hijab and that doesn't maker her any less of a muslim than you are. and many girls who do wear the hijab only do it because of social pressure.. it was never about outter appearance and it should never be. salam!

[atcrossroads]

When you go to the South of Spain, it is littered with English pubs and English fish 'n chips shops. And I think it is because of Brits who came there on holiday, liked the place, decided to move there and then promptly proceeded to change it into 'little Britain'. And I hate it. If you liked the place before you lived there, why do you now want to change it? If you want to live in a British environment, then stay in Britain. Ditto the religious garb - if you liked France well enough to move there, then live 'French". No, you don't have to tart it out in miniskirts and tanktops, you can wear long skirts, long sleeved blouses, loose fitting dresses, even a headscarf if you want. If the Burqa is so fundamental to your own identity, then live in a country where it is the norm and culture. Yes, you have choice and freedom, to live where you want, in a culture that you feel comfortable with.

[PaxMundis]

Of course, at least some of the Muslim immigrants are from Algeria and other French colonies. Sorry, but if France doesn't want foreign cultures in their country, they shouldn't have colonized other cultures.

[kumarandharold]

You say you become the observer ------ well I think everyone should be able to ‘observe’. I also think whenever rules are applied only to men or women, they are not just. BTW how do you reconcile with the fact that there is no stipulation for wearing a Burka in Quran?

[hoytvanderbilt]

A free society can decide that people should not cover their faces, it can also forbid public nudity. Rules come and go, always trying to find a right balance between individual freedom and society rules. There is no absolute freedom, but it's in the west, France included, that you'll find the closest thing to it.

[Noland]

Listen Ladies: In 'your' culture, you can do whatever floats your boat because we in the West don't really care. However, when you CHOOSE to wear that stuff in 'our' world we do care. If you don't like how we feel about it, then stay where you are and quit whinning how we don't understand. No, we don't understand and most of us don't care to so either assimilate to our culture or remain in yours and be happy happy happy with all those cloths on.

[ModernTimes1]

re."But in Saudi culture the abaya is part of our identity, an identity that most of us happily embrace."

Ok. And in Western culture the burqa shroud is Not part of identity and we do NOT embrace it. Not at all.
We find face covering a thing that shocks our sensibilities. Why not show some cultural sensitivity to European country you live and or visit. Please don't wear it when in Paris... Especially because it's your personal choice, right?

Of course, you're also protesting against to lengthy list of clothing and behavior requirements Western women are subjected to in Saudi Arabia, right?

[yasmeen]

thank you for taking the time to write this. i started wearing the hijab at 12 but perfected it at 13. i'm 35 now and to me it's a statement: "there is more to me than my body, which you can't see, so deal with my intelligence, sense of humor and personality."

the head scarf is only a part of the hijab "modest dress". if a woman wears a scarf but wears tight or see through attire, it's not hijab. if the front or side of her hair is showing, that is not hijab. you can tell how seriously religious a woman is by how correctly she wears her hijab.

women who wear veils/burkas say it empowers them coz "they become the observers, not the observed." they don't want men even seeing their faces. however, i noticed that most women like this are usually housewives or work in "female interaction only" careers; a teacher in a female school. they take it off upon entry and put it back on when its time to go out in the street again. they are a minority (%5--%10) among muslim women except in iran, saudia arabia and parts of the arabian gulf where it has become a part of the culture. if a burqa wearing woman is denied that right she will imprison herself at home, such is her belief that she cannot expose her face. it would be cruel to isolate them from society like this.

[riff4u]

Thank goodess an article that actually makes sense regarding this issue. To all those haters of all things Islamic.......women are required to wear hijab, modest covering in Saudi Arabia. They are not required to wear a burqa. I don't like the burqa but I DO like freedom of choice. The French goverment is talking about banning the burqa, I doubt if that will happen, but many non-Muslims do not understand that many Muslim women out of their interpretation of Islam, CHOOSE to fully cover themselves. The false counter argument has been "secuirty"­........bu­t anybody can read between the lines and see that this is simply because they don't like to see women in a burqa.

[atcrossroads]

And many women choose not to, but are forced to. And that is what France wants to stamp out.

[cimbri]

I guess the logical thing to do is move to a country where you fit in better. We left the medieval age behind us over 300 years ago. Time to modernize.

[ObamaSheeple]

Or, move to a country where freedom of and/or from religion is practiced, like the good ol' U.S.A.

[riff4u]

Yeah we have come a long way. Now we can kill each other by the push of a button rather than a spear.

[Neal Jansons]

Typical example of internalized oppression. You see it in the Christian and Judaic traditions too...ask a devout Jewish woman about the "unclean" portions of the Law and you will get a whole apologetic about "women's mysteries" and "the Red Tent", the Christians have a whole movement involving "Godly submission" and so on. The lack of education is telling...they act like it is 60 years ago and no research on internalized oppression has ever occurred, so all it takes to disqualify something being oppressive is their belief that they made a choice about it. Of course, this never acknowledges the notion that if someone's choices are coerced, if they essentially don't believe they really have a choice, it is just as oppressive.

It's not surprising, however: the notion of systematic oppression is a dangerous concept for a religion to allow into the minds of its followers, as they might get wise to how the mechanisms of "Sunday School" and institutionalized privilege work and protest.

[Rahan]

Typical example of Holier Than Thou mien.
It boils down to a society ruling by fiat what is appropriate to wear and what is not (ironically, on both sides). I don't know about you, but I think that is a step backward not forward.

[genofear]

Exactly. To suggest that these women are just so uneducated and indoctrinated that they don't understand their own repression is presumptuous, ignorant, and insulting.

While it may be impossible to see things from the perspective of people from a different culture, we can at least acknowledge that the perspective may be different and is valid.

[ObamaSheeple]

Ditto. I am an agnostic or atheist, depending on how you define it. I firmly believe in freedom of speech, religion and expression, even though I believe religions can be dangerous for or to most individuals.

I thank dog that I live in a country that espouses those liberties because we have seen the result of atheist indoctrination in the former Soviet Union (CCCP). It is a total failure.

It is best to let every individual choose for themselves how they want to live. Yes, I get it that people are coerced and indoctrinated like I was as an innocent child. I grew up and took responsibility for my own thoughts and actions like any mature adult should, including WOMEN.

Believe it or not, I think brains are included with the manufacture of each woman. That is why most Americans support a woman's right to choose even if they personally disagree with the decision of abortion.

It is their body and their life. Let them make their own choice, or are women too stupid or weak and fragile to do so?

[atcrossroads]

Sadly, Neal, most of the people who responded to this post chose to miss the point - that the oppressed believe that they have no choice, that the oppressor is actually doing them a favour. That lots of research confirm this - whether we are talking of blacks people in South Africa who supported the Apartheid regime, abused women who support their abusive husbands, slaves who are greatful to their slavemasters for providing them with food or shelter, women who stay at home and raise their children because "that's what women are supposed to do". Some of this on an extreme scale, some far less so, but the principle remains, for many women (No, not all) the choice is coerced.

[jeromemck]

This is such a carelessly written article that one wonders why it was accepted for publication. This writer conflates the West with France. She also seems to be saying that the plaid skirts the Catholic school girls often wear are religious garb. I didn't read much more, how can one take seriously someone who doesn't get her facts straight.