Burqa Ban Passes in French Senate

By Jennifer Cocks

September 16, 2010

8:00 pm

This past Tuesday, the French Senate passed a bill that bans burqa-style Islamic veils in public streets and other places. According to the lawmakers, this ban would only affect roughly 2,000 women. The parliamentary leaders have preemptively planned to have the Constitutional Council, the highest constitutional authority in France, to determine if this law inhibits any religious and other freedoms. Their decision is due in less than a month. Under this law, any woman, even a tourist, caught wearing a burqa in public areas could either be fined $185 (150 Euros) or have to take citizenship classes. Spouses or brothers that force their female relatives and spouses to wear a veil could be fined up to $38,400 (30,000 Euros) and a year in prison. The penalty against males forcing a female to wear a burqa doubles if the victim is a minor. Although Islam does not require a woman to hide her face with the veil, many Muslim leaders think that outlawing the religious practice would stigmatize the 5 million members of the French Muslim population.

I understand that the French government is trying to reduce the number of hate-crimes related to the Islamic religion; the article stated that women who were wearing the garment were being harassed more often. But I also think that forbidding Muslim women from expressing their own religion by wearing a burqa is the wrong way to attempt to reduce and eliminate this type of prejudice. It seems like the anti-Islamic sentiment is a bit more of a national issue than this article can capture, and if that’s so, then banning burqas isn’t going to resolve the “Islamopohbia.” Increasing education about the religion and encouraging an atmosphere of tolerance, might, however, reduce the hate-crimes against Muslims. Not to mention that this law, it might lead the few women that do wear their veils to simply stay sequestered in their own homes and completely avoid public outings. That result would run counter to the “liberation of women” movement that I think the French are trying to achieve. I do see a possible security benefit for the French with the implementation of this new law. Because a burqa covers everything on a woman but her eyes and hands, it would definitely be easier for a person to disguise his/her identity, so banning them helps reduce security threats by giving authorities (and citizens) a clear view of everyone’s face.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2019286,00.html