Epigraph: And say to the believing women that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts, and that they disclose not their natural and artificial beauty except that which is apparent thereof, and that they draw their head-coverings over their bosoms. (Al Quran 24:32)
Source: The Guardian
By Nabila Ramdani
Those calling for a veil ban in Britain have clearly ignored such depressingly routine cases. They do not realise how the legislation introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government has not only stigmatised Muslim women, but somehow legitimised physical attacks on them. The ban in France is a hateful assault on basic freedoms, one that has been seized on by an unlikely alliance of rightwing politicians and feminists.
Join me in a criminal court in suburban Paris on almost any weekday and I’ll show you exactly where national debates about female face coverings end up.
Ever since France introduced its “burqa ban” in 2011, there has been a constant stream of wretched cases involving the handful of Muslims who choose to wear such garments. Not only are perfectly upstanding women being fined for their choice of dress, principally the full-body niqab, which leaves a slit for the eyes, but an increasing number of defendants are being tried for attacking them.
One case involves two self-styled “patriotic vigilantes” who targeted a pregnant 21-year-old in the commuter town of Argenteuil, north-west of Paris, in June. The new law persuaded the men to shout racist insults before putting the woman in hospital, where she lost her baby.
How many of you remember a whole raft of politicians, feminists, liberals and right-wingers standing as one to declare: One of the reasons we should invade Afghanistan is to save Muslim Women from the Taliban. One of key reasons for liberating Afghanistan, we were told, was to ensure Afghan women can be ‘given a voice’.
Back in 2001 the former Prime Minister’s wife Cherie Blair and Overseas Development Minister Claire Short were the biggest cheer leaders in focusing their attention towards Muslim Women. Thirteen years later and countless lives lost, the Taliban are reemploying their male dominated will on society. In the last few weeks alone the Taliban have assassinated two female security personnel. It begs the question: was the war in Afghanistan really about women’s rights? If so why are they now being abandoned?
The same is true about the mock outraged debate in regards to the veil or the Niqab. To watch the news, or listen to the radio stations one would think that the foundation of British society is under threat by a few thousand Muslim women who prefer to wear the veil. Horrified shock jocks give over hours of airtime urging their listeners to be as outraged as they are about the ‘affront to our society’ and to women’s liberation in general.
This ‘national’ debate came about after a small number of women at Birmingham University requested to wear the veil during their lectures and another woman requested to remain veiled during her court case. Birmingham University reviewed its initial decision to ban the veil on security grounds and will now allow it, and the Judge found a compromise in the court case arguing that if the defendant gives evidence then she must remove it.
So, where’s the national debate? Why do certain politicians and media people want to talk about this issue ad nausea? The answers are simple: by focusing on this extremely narrow issue which only effects a few thousand women, some people can write or talk about what they see as very negative elements of Islam. The fact that it effects so few people is besides the point, they know that all Muslims are tainted by this debate. And that is the sole reason for its disproportionate coverage.
The detractors would say, ‘but it’s a legitimate debate to be had.’ Others would say, ‘ its about protecting Muslim women from oppressive Muslim men’. Both are just excuses. If this a legitimate debate, why isn’t there a legitimate national debate that Muslim’s numbering many tens of thousands are amongst the poorest, deprived people in the United Kingdom.
Equally the rates of infant mortality is the highest within British Bangladeshi families; Somali men have the highest rates of unemployment, and Stop and Search for Muslims are three times the national average. Why are these issues not for public debate? If it was about Muslim women, why then are organisations such as the Southall Black Sisters having their funding cut by local and National Government?
Where’s the outrage when Asian women’s organisations that support women’s rights are closing on a daily basis? And if its about women’s rights in general, why are we not completely outraged by the main stream sexualisation of young girls, by men in powerful media positions? Lastly, in the fairness of seeing all sides of a community, when was the last time you heard a debate about Muslim women or the Muslim Community that was anything but negative?
If our outraged shock disc jockeys, politicians and feminists really cared about Muslim women, they would be writing articles and holding programmes about the deep inequality gaps which persist in jobs, education and housing. Sadly these very genuine debates do not pander to prejudice like the veil debate does.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk