Politics of the Veil

@insideislam.wisc.edu

In 2004, the French government passed a law that banned the wearing of “conspicuous signs” of religion affiliation in public schools. While the banning also included Jewish and Sikh religious-affiliated clothing, the law was known to be a direct response against Muslim girls and their headscarves- or veils, as they’ve become more regarded as. In Politics of the Veil, author Joan Wallach Scott outlines how the laws against Muslim women and their affiliated clothing are more malicious than they are benevolent, and how the concepts of racism, secularism, individualism, and sexuality have all played a part in only worsening the problem that Muslims have with integrating in French society.

Wallach uses the testimonies of Muslim women to help illustrate her argument that there are more repercussions to the law than just having to take off the veil. By banning headscarves from being worn in public, France continuously alienates their Muslim population. As Wallach said in the book, even though the overt protests against the law have ceased- in the media, at least- Muslim women are repeatedly reminded that the law and society as a whole only works against them. Stories of how Muslim women are denied naturalization, marriages, job opportunities, government assistance, the right to testify in trials, and even just simply the ability to receive certain services are all to common for Muslim women in France.

@opinionmag.com

So, even though the law was only meant to target school aged Muslim girls, the social ramifications have made it more unlikely that Muslim women will ever integrate- or assimilate, which is probably a better term for what the French want- fully into French society. Despite being pitched as a step towards liberating Muslim women from the patriarchal religion of Islam, the law was also a step backwards, because it only served to further the racial oppression and discrimination that Muslims- especially Muslim women- face in white supremacist, Western societies. When they remove their veils to go into public, only to put them back on when they return to the privacy of their own homes, it gives them their daily reminder that they are outsiders in their own country, and it only continues to foster a sense of resentment against and alienation from French society.

In 2010, France pushed the issue further and banned Muslim women from wearing their full-faced veils (niqabs) in public spaces, giving a 150 Euro fine (about $205) for women who do so anyways- making France the first European country to do so. In 2014, the law was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that the ban wasn’t a direct target on the religious affiliation of the clothing, but just on the fact that it concealed the face.

 Since then, other European countries- like Belgium- have followed suit.

@inminds.co.uk

I would say that it’s a noble cause, but like Wallach, I agree that there is an underlying seediness to the law and to laws like it. I’d believe that it was for the protection of the countries- if it wasn’t for the fact that Islamophobic hate crimes are rising faster in Western society (here, there, and everywhere) than crimes against people who are against Islam. 

I’d believe that it was for the liberation of Muslim women from the oppressive patriarchy that is Islam (even though we hardly consider nuns oppressed for wearing a similar outfit in the name of patriarchal Christianity)- if it wasn’t for the fact that banning Muslim women from wearing what they choose (because many Muslim women choose to wear their veils for themselves, not because of any sexist obligation- despite what Western [read “white”] feminists like to believe ) is the opposite of “liberation” and only forces them to choose which oppressor they want to please more. I’d stand by the law if Western society didn’t preach religious freedom or individualism or open-mindedness.

I’d be all for it- if only it wasn’t so hypocritical and completely against the values that Western society is claiming to be fighting for.

@rediff.com

Like Wallach, I believe that these laws only continue to spread hate and further separate the Muslim community from the West. I don’t think that the way to integrating a society is to remove all of the cultural differences between minority groups and the dominant majority. I think that integration only happens when a society can accept that everyone is different and respect those differences.