Like MuddlingAlongMummy, I have been very conflicted about this. There are arguments that women are being forced to cover their faces and hair by men, and that banning the burka means that this can no longer happen.
Sadly, I don't think this will be the case. I suspect that the type of man who will use force to make his wife or daughter wear a burka would not hesitate to deny her the freedom to leave the house if there were a chance she could be arrested. I suspect that the reality will be even more oppression and isolation for these women.
Not all women wear a burka because they are forced to by overbearing, abusive men. Many wear them because of their personal religious beliefs. Is it right to deny a woman to clothe herself as she wants? Catholic nuns cover their bodies and hair, do we deny them the right to do so?
At the end of the day, I would prefer my government to offer the assistance and support for women to get out of abusive relationships rather than dictate what they can and cannot wear.
Should we not be concentrating on educating young women - not just Muslims, but all women - on how to escape men who abuse them? Should we not be making Womens' Refuses available to anyone who needs them? Should we not be prosecuting and jailing men who abuse women?
To say that it is for the womens' protection is ignoring the fact that there are much more effective ways to protect women.
Picture Credit
Whilst I think wearing the Burka is anti Western more than it is a religious statement, if people want to align themselves with a religion that serves totalitarian rule and subjects women to a 'lesser' life then who's to say they can't? As an atheist I shudder when I see a woman identifying herself as a Muslim from a distance, I cringe at the significance of this garment., Just as the Golly hasn't evolved into a non controversial toy the Burka will never be able to leave it's roots that women are the sexual objects to men only. The west does not hold covering women as a tradition and so perhaps people should be grateful of their freedoms as opposed to lifting themselves above their fellow citizens with this so called religious expression. It has no place in the norms of the West and I would love to see it disappear....but then I'd love to see all childish notions of God combusted...
ReplyDeleteThis is the issue I've been wrestling with - the ability to protect some dominated women (who presumably will now be unable to leave the house) and the fact that as a liberal I find dictating what anyone wears feels wrong
ReplyDeletep.s. can't believe I wasn't following you before (especially given I ended up seconded to Geneva for ages)