Should Britain ban the burka?
The Burka; never has a garment been so emotive. With Sarkozy’s call for the banning of this piece of clothing throughout France I am yet again faced with the troubling issue of how to climb off the fence on this divisive topic. So, I’m asking for your help. What do you think of Burka? Is it a symbol of male oppression or a woman’s expression of spiritual liberation?
Sarkozy’s grounds for outlawing the burka is that it –
‘Deprives (women) of all identity’ and that it’s ‘not the French republic’s idea of women’s dignity.’
Whether you agree or not, his comments have breathed air into the question most of us would like to see suffocating under a pillow – is wearing the Burka an act of self-determination, or the ideological oppression of Muslim women?
This is of course a feminist issue. Feminism is defined by the equal right of women to determine the course of their own lives and to have fair and equal treatment before the law. This being so, in order to answer the question of whether the burka is worn out of a Muslim woman’s free choice we must first look at the relationship between religion and free will.
My happy-go-lucky liberal side wants me to believe that burka wearing Muslim women are exercising their free will. My other side, the cynical recovering Catholic who knows what it’s like to be indoctrinated, has a gut feeling this just isn’t so for all Muslim woman. You see, the crux of the matter is free will. Free will doesn’t generally go hand in hand with religion. Religion restricts the individual’s free choice for many reasons; to live morally/ethically, to reach enlightenment, please god, understand god, gain a place in heaven, etc etc…Therefore, religious domination of the individual via dogma can and does interfere with free will. If you believe your god demands you behave in a certain way, and will not be too pleased if you don’t, where is your free will and self determination? Moreover, if your religion dictates that you are not equal in the eyes of god, (women not allowed to be ordained, women having to dress modestly etc) then surely as feminists we need to challenge these notions? These are important questions we need to face head on in our society.
As a young Catholic girl I often wondered why there were no women priests. I was a deeply spiritual child, and equally as questioning. When I asked the nun training me for my first holy communion why she was not a priest she said, ‘It’s god’s will. We are the priest’s servants’. This sent a clear message to me, no matter how connected to my god I felt, I would never be ‘good’ enough. My male peers were special. I was to serve them. It was a vicious feeling; a spiritual disempowerment of the most corrosive form. My gender dictated my place within my faith, and that place was a firm second. Even as a child I felt angry. There was a huge incongruence between what Jesus had said and what the church did, and still does. I sometimes feel sure similar incongruences exist within Islamic teachings, and I worry.
I worry we may be ignoring the religious domination of some woman within our society. I worry our lack of communication and desire to keep the boat steady is hindering some women’s right to own the empowerment some of us take for granted. Yes, I worry and I don’t know if it’s unfounded.
The two Muslim women I know have very differing views. One wears the Burka, as she feels it is her duty to not evoke the lust of men. The other, equally devoted, chooses not to wear it as she feels it’s a middle-class Afghan fashion statement of wealth and as it’s not mentioned in the Qur’an she’s not obliged to cover up. (And there’s that troubling word again, ‘obliged’, it’s a word that makes me feel very very uncomfortable.)
So, back to the question and I’m just about off the fence. Should we ban the Burka? So far my answer is… no. There’s no such thing as the fashion police and nor should there be. Politicians should stay out of women’s wardrobes. They should no more legislate against women covering up than they should demand they wander round naked. If we start interfering with people’s right to dress how they choose we’d all have to wear the latest fashion dictated by Vogue magazine…that prospect makes me shudder right down to my bone marrow. Besides, if we ban it we can pretend the issue has gone away, it won’t. If we ban it, every religion should be de-robed. If we ban it, we are in danger of further victimising a section of the community who are already so unfairly treated it’s tantamount to bullying. You simply cannot fight oppression by oppressing people. And finally, if we ban it, we ultimately forget we live in a democratic society where Muslim women’s voices deserve to be heard too, who are we to decide for them?
However (and it’s a huge great big however) we should be aware that the burka could be used to dominate and manipulate some women into a subservient role. We all have a duty to protect women from domination and oppression of any sort. We should be vigilant, we should talk, and we should try our best to empower our sisters no matter what their colour or creed, but we can’t do this by patronising Muslim women and treating them like they don’t have an intellect just because they have a faith! If you ban the burka, you send a message that the majority of Muslim women can’t think for themselves, this is just plain insulting and unjustifiably wrong.
If you believe differently, I’m open to your comments.
This is such a difficult question. Do we put aside our own values and respect the rights of different communities to co-exist and practice their own beliefs, or do we put our foot down, as Sarkozy seems to be doing, and say that we will not accept subordination of women in any guise.
I admire him for his decision, but I think it’s a thorny time to make it, and I agree that Muslim communities could probably do without extra judgements on their traditions.
That said, I can detect hums of colonialism – is this us ‘civilizing’ barbarian traditions? Who are we to judge a community (and a tradition) that has been around for hundreds of years, and are more than capable of making their own minds up? Could it be that shining the light on other people’s affairs keeps our own sins in the shadows? Illegal wars, dead protestors, prisoner torture, self-interested ‘development’ projects, environmental destruction….surely these are more pressing than passing laws on what clothes women are allowed to wear?
mymanchestereditor
June 30, 2009
Yes, I agree. There’re more pressing women’s rights issues such as sex trafficking, rape centre closures, domestic violence etc. The smoke screen of hysteria about the burka is ugly. As you quite rightly say, the hums (or screams) of colonialism are worrying too. The assumption we can ‘civilize’ another culture is distasteful and arrogant, not to mention dangerously close to a full-blown political superiority complex. Perhaps my wider question is less isolated to the burka, it is –do people indoctrinated into a faith have free will? Or does fear of god quash an individual’s ability to truly express themselves? Until the gay rights movement Christian gays hid,(some still opt to be celibate) due to a fear of god and rejection from the community cos gods law dictated it is sinful, if the gay rights movement had respected Christianity as the ancient tradition it is, being gay would still be deemed a psychiatric disorder and illegal by law. I’m not sure the age of a tradition is relevant when demanding respect, not it forces a person onto the margins of society, or treats them as a second-class citizen. But, I’m still not convinced the burka does this.
I feel it’s a shame when women’s equality issues only appear in the press when it’s tackling weight, cosmetic surgery or burkas. I’d like to see real, hardened, women’s issues tackled responsibly by government and media rather than being constantly reduced to a woman’s appearance. I’d like to see the rape laws changed, more safe houses, better family planning services, improved maternity rights, more translators, free education, better paid predominantly women dominated jobs, single mothers treated with dignity, a proper debate on the legalization of prostitution, and adequate funding to domestic violence services. And then, if the burka is being used as a tool of oppression by some families, it can be treated appropriately under the term of domestic violence and the women involved can access help and support from services within the community.
alexmorrisroe
June 30, 2009
This is a very interesting issue and one that is particularly relevant to young women. It’s so hard to know where to draw the line on whether or not banning the Burka is acceptable and banning a nun’s habit is not. Please check out this recent video we made about Sarkozy’s call to ban the Burka. we’d love to know what you, and other young people in Britain, think about the issue.
http://catch21.co.uk/vblog/2009/jun/the-story-burkas
Thanks,
Emer
Emer
June 30, 2009
The Burka should be banned in Australia, as there is no need in our Western world to feel one must cover up. The issue is, we’ll tell the Muslim world it is not acceptable to tell women to hide, nor is it acceptable to run around naked. I lived in Pakistan for 3 years and most women wearing Burkas were scared and did not were Burkas because they wanted to. They were suppressed and scared. Let’s support those women and build place for them to feel safe, tell them we have rules which include “NO BURKA”. They need our support and hopefully we can contribute to liberate them. But we must clearly tell their men we do not agree their control and suppression.
Sabine Wythes
July 15, 2009
You make the statement “If you ban the burka, you send a message that the majority of Muslim women can’t think for themselves, this is just plain insulting and unjustifiably wrong”, but I guess I am going to ask the question, are you sure they can think for themselves?
Now before you get angry at the question, understand where it comes from. If you lived in a world where women are as oppressed as I have come to believe many Muslim women are (at least in many parts of the world), and you are a women, is I possible that they have become so brainwashed as to actually believe that it is ok for women to be oppressed servants to their husbands and therefore it “is only right” to be forced to wear a Burka? It wasn’t so long ago that women believed it “ok” for their husbands to beat them for disobedience right here in the United States.
If a free thinking women truly wishes to wear a Burka for what ever reason, so be it. But for free thinking women (and men) to permit a brain washed servant to remain in what is paramount to captivity is a whole different matter. How does the non-free thinking women who has been pressed into servitude free herself from the rains of tyranny except through the strength of those who are not bound by that tyranny?
I guess what it comes down to is that it really isn’t the Burka at all, it is the attitude of the women who wear them, and the men who force them to. It seems to me that what really needs to be attacked is the stronghold that Muslim men have over their Muslim women. Perhaps banning the Burka is a small price for those who are free thinkers to pay, so that those who are less fortunate can rid themselves of the first layer of tyranny.
J. Shoup
October 9, 2009
Hello J.Shoup, thank you for your comment!
Yes, I think I said it’s difficult to determine freedom of thought when religion is involved and yes it would probably be a small price to pay if it’d work.
But I still think the actual Burka is not the issue, but how it is used by certain individuals. Our pre-occupation with a garment deflects the attention from the real issue; violence against and the domination of women which takes place everywhere with shocking regularity. If we ban the burka, the abuse remains. The improvement of women’s services across the board & zero tolerance of misoginy within society would improve every womans life rather than banning clothing and hoping the problem goes away.
alexmorrisroe
October 10, 2009