Fri, 16 Jul 2010 9:45a.m.
Opinion by Kim Chisnall
Here in London a woman wearing a burqa, or niqab is a relatively common sight. You see them walking their children to school or delicately lifting their veil as they grab a bite to eat. I think it looks hot and uncomfortable but I struggle to agree with French President Nicolas Sarkozy who says they hurt the dignity of women.
The National Assembly in France has just taken the first step in voting into law a ban on wearing veils over the face in public areas. Under the new law, women who wear veils can be fined €150 ($265) or ordered to follow citizenship classes. If a husband or father is found to have been forcing a woman to wear a veil they risk a year of prison and a €30,000 ($53,000), double that if she is a minor.
It is a strong stance in a country where up to 70 percent of the population supports the ban. French MPs are adamant that veils don't belong in France - one called them "muzzles" another said they were "walking coffins".
France has the largest Muslim population in Europe - an estimated five million people in a country of just over 62 million. But detractors say in reality less than 2000 woman in France wear the full veil and this law is less about protecting women's rights and more about President Sarkozy's attempting to woo the anti-immigration far-Right.
But France is not alone. Belgium is in the process of enacting a similar law and in Britain a Conservative MP is trying to get a law passed which would ban people from wearing burqas and balaclavas. Philip Hollobone says the burqa is against the British way of life. "My constituents find it strange, unnatural, sometimes offensive and it's just not the way we do things in this country."
Well Mr Hollobone there is much to find strange, unnatural and offensive in Britain. Last weekend I travelled to Newcastle for a story. The city is the unofficial capital for stag and hen parties. Lager louts and girls with flesh straining against barely adequate lycra. It wasn't pretty and I didn't understand it and while I wasn't exactly offended you see my point.
I'm not trying to trivialise the issue but if the state wants to interfere with how people dress they should be prepared to offer more of an argument than Mr Hollobone's rather staid - it's just not British.
A stronger argument was given by French politician Berengere Poletti who said the face covering veil is a prison for women: "They are the sign of their submission to their husbands, brothers or fathers."
But uncomfortably for Poletti many young Muslim women are vocal in their insistence that it is their choice to wear the burqa. Does that make them women prisoners of their own free will?
Am I missing something here? Can somebody give me a strong argument for banning the burqa?