FRANCE BANS THE WEARING OF THE MUSLIM BURQA / BURKA / NIQABS IN PUBLIC.
When I “searched” my blog to see how many times I have blogged about “Muslim Women” and issues about their dress, I was astounded; I guess the subject just keeps popping up all the time.
Before, we just talked about the issue but now we have a law banning the wearing of a specific type of clothing, punishable by a fine; forcing someone to wear a burka mandates jail time and a very stiff fine ($38,000). This law was unanimously supported by the French government, parliament and a majority of the population; I am sure more countries will follow suite.
Just to be clear, the piece of clothing in question is the full burka (only a slit for the eyes) and not the myriad styles of veils (see picture above).
Reviewing my past opinions, I would have to say I was conflicted but tended to side with the popular negative view of why women wore the burka. I guess my conflict was with the legal and constitutional ramifications.
In my early days, nuns that taught me in school had a “habit” on and I guess you could call it a type of burka but with hands and face showing (how else could they teach?). I don’t remember anybody thinking there was anything wrong with what they wore and in fact, that is what nuns wore – period.
I strongly agree that laws must be passed mandating an open (uncovered) face on ID cards, in court, and all instances where a view of the full face is needed but while on the street or shopping…
A friend speculated that crooks could start donning burkas as they robbed banks, stores, people on the street and then what would you do; start arresting every one with a burka on?
As you can see, I am still conflicted…
When I “searched” my blog to see how many times I have blogged about “Muslim Women” and issues about their dress, I was astounded; I guess the subject just keeps popping up all the time.
Before, we just talked about the issue but now we have a law banning the wearing of a specific type of clothing, punishable by a fine; forcing someone to wear a burka mandates jail time and a very stiff fine ($38,000). This law was unanimously supported by the French government, parliament and a majority of the population; I am sure more countries will follow suite.
Just to be clear, the piece of clothing in question is the full burka (only a slit for the eyes) and not the myriad styles of veils (see picture above).
Reviewing my past opinions, I would have to say I was conflicted but tended to side with the popular negative view of why women wore the burka. I guess my conflict was with the legal and constitutional ramifications.
In my early days, nuns that taught me in school had a “habit” on and I guess you could call it a type of burka but with hands and face showing (how else could they teach?). I don’t remember anybody thinking there was anything wrong with what they wore and in fact, that is what nuns wore – period.
I strongly agree that laws must be passed mandating an open (uncovered) face on ID cards, in court, and all instances where a view of the full face is needed but while on the street or shopping…
A friend speculated that crooks could start donning burkas as they robbed banks, stores, people on the street and then what would you do; start arresting every one with a burka on?
As you can see, I am still conflicted…
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