Totally agree with it, especially in the case of driving a car- it's dangerous enough anyway here in France. My sister in law was obliged to wear local clothes out of the house when her husband was posted by the UN to Tehran. There have been a number of worldwide terrorism cases where men have disguised them selves in this form of attire. I profoundly dislike hoodies especially when worn with a baseball cap as well; it immediately causes extreme apprehension. Nothing whatever to do with racism. We can see where it could go and we don't want to be there.
I am absolutely in favour if the burqa and niqab-for men!
I put this up because I was questioning myself about it. As people might well realise, I have spent many years trotting round the globe. I studied anthropology, therefore what I learned as text book examples have over time been backed up by seeing and experiencing things in their proper context. I have also, to a point, been able to discuss them.
What I have learned, which applies to people I have worked with as well, is that when in other countries observe and respect their way of life and what goes with that. If it is somewhere that is sweltering hot but bare legs and arms are frowned on, as much as we might wish to put on shorts and a tee shirt it has to be trousers and a shirt, but light cotton that protects and absorbs perspiration. That example is typical for showing that two of us working for a well known charity were treated respectfully and largely left alone whereas tourists we encountered who 'knew better' were spat on, refused service in the café where we were eating and more. There are many more customs that people either innocently/naively or arrogantly disregard, however it makes them unwelcome where they are visiting. By at least conforming as far as they can those people would be welcomed and feel far more comfortable. Unfortunately, for all we know of the world, there are far too many people from the western world who feel they are above these things and that their values are civilised and that therefore people should do as they do. They are intolerant, not the people in whose country they now are.
I too have been in Islamic countries and regions. The spectrum of differences is vast. Because it is ingrained in me, I observe and learn. I ask discrete questions whenever possible. Around 20 years ago I had a gifted Malaysian MPhil student. She wore a hijab, was uncomfortable socially in England but intellectually stimulated. My then wife was her graduate tutor as well, so we invited her to visit us for lunch or dinner several times. Back then she was quite timid, was expected to accept an arranged marriage when she went home and be a lecturer in a college for women or something like that. However, I asked her a lot of questions about those matters, neutrally rather than personally which she says helped her change. She is now the chair and director of a women's studies institute at one of her country's top universities. She found her two years in England, meeting women from other Islamic settings particularly but also learning from the men she was taught by and got to know socially that despite what she was originally taught not all men are predatory, which some of the more conservative members of her own society claimed they all are. When her university asked her to set up her institute one of her conditions was that male students be allowed to study and research there as well and that the main focus would be on gender studies.
There is a point to saying all of this. She was the one who explained to me that covering the head, face or body entirely was cultural rather than religious. She knew the Q'ran and other teachings of their prophet well enough to know that what they say is nothing like practice. She also knew perfectly well that in those teachings it is expressed as something voluntary, a choice but not an absolute. That there are countries or regions in some countries that have imposed an obligation to wear the burqa is not Q'ranic law at all but the contrivance of those who wish to continue absolute dominance of women although that too is not in the Islamic teachings. I also learned that there is a close correlation with some countries that are now fiercely defending female genital mutilation.
Therefore, for me I had to ask myself whether what I had learned was a correct guide to my own views. My view is that by wearing complete head and body covering the women who do so are being intolerant. They have left their own cultural environment but can continue to practice their religion. That religion gives them a choice but does not demand they veil themselves entirely. The hijab is, at least in my opinion, perfectly acceptable. Indeed, if that was banned then no man or woman would be able to wear any kind of headscarf, some turbans or many kinds of hat. It is also a choice but one that many women who have come to the western world feel comfortable with. The woman I mentioned above and some colleagues, one permanently exiled Persian particularly, have spoken about how during the first half of the twentieth century women in Islamic countries protested again being obliged to wear head coverings and that in the majority of those countries many did. It seems that two things have happened since. First the radicalisation of Islam and secondly acts of defiance. I believe that the blindness of people who come to western, essentially secular countries where there is actually great religious tolerance, unlike the intolerance they infer, is causing a lot of tensions. It plays into the hands of political movements who are xenophobic to begin with and also irritates people who are not as such political but are being told their way of life is wrong in their own country. That is intolerance.
Then the second. The act of defiance tends to irritate. It seems that if a man, perhaps myself, says anything about it then we are automatically sexist. However, I have noticed over the last couple of years the burqa and niqab issue has arisen more than once and not always under the mantle of Islam. I have a vague recollection of a similar legal battle between one of the states in the USA and a feminist who demanded that it was her right to cover herself in a free society. Safety and security reasons, in her view, did not count. She was not a Moslem, so I found her whole rationale disingenuous and was sympathetic to the outcome of the case going against her. I just have a very uncomfortable feeling that there is something of a very similar vein going on here, perhaps not this case particularly but here in western Europe for sure. I am absolutely not sure what is achieved in these cases because common sense tells me that these acts of defiance only exacerbate tensions between men and women which I would personally wish we could grow out of, should have a long time ago in fact.
So, I raised the question to see how people might inform me. There are only a handful of responses but I feel vindicated in saying that I think this legal decision is absolutely right, that I also think that other countries should take the bull by the horns and stop it. As for the men who insist that their women must cover themselves, they too need to remember how they might react when their values are not respected in their places of origin and that the religious requirement they hide behind is without any foundations.
Also, as a closing note, I do remember a very wealthy postgraduate from the aristocracy or royal family of his country who came to England with more than one wife, all of whom wore burqas, who used to go out drinking with the lads. Hohum, does Islam not strictly forbid alcohol or is it that just another pick and choose thing?
This is already longer than intended, but when I put it up at first Andrew's comment came within two minutes. It reminded me of the robbery in the north of England some years ago where the niqab wearing robbers could have been men or women, but even security cameras could not reveal that.... Driving, robberies and all the rest of it are more than legitimate reasons but a thought occurred. If a woman is hit by a car and the emergency services are called out, must they all stop attending to the woman because no police woman or female ambulance personnel arrive to tend to her? That might be a life and death issue and such idiocy is worth far less than saving a life in my view, or am I wrong?
I also agree to the sacking of a woman who refused to remove her burqa in the creche where she worked. And as forone of the bloke's many wives who refused to remove her burqa whilst driving and when controlled by the police, where on earth are we going to end up if we let that happen! I have first hand examples amongst customers here of those who rentrent au pays to "buy" themselves a wife who almost nobody ever sees here but who is often heard crying in her flat and when she is seen, she's covered from head to foot - for me it's a sign of modernday misogenistic (sp?) slavery. I have also been known to remove christian crosses from classrooms - the state is laÏque, let's keep it thar way! As for not being able to see a customer's face with he number of armed robberies of tabac, you can imagine that we'r not very pro!
I absolutely support the ban, and say so on the strength of owning & having worn a Tchaddri (what the Afghans call a Burqa) a very fetching blue pleated & embroidered one with a little grille bit for the eyes, very useful when in certain foreign parts, not remotely useful or desirable here.
When I think that from the 1920s women in the Middle East were on the streets demonstrating for the right to an education and not to be veiled & now we have veils all over the place it makes me very angry.
I feel if you live in a different country then you should abide by their laws, cultures and traditions. Covering ones face in public is not a concept we believe in France historically (or the UK). If I went to live in an Islamic country, I would have to live by their customs, ergo, Islamic people should abide by Western European customs.
As for being a French citizen, certain religious practices in various religions are already against the majority of Western laws, so unfortunately this just happens to be one of them. eg Polygamy, occultism and so on :-)
I agree with it and have done right from the start as does my OH.