More Than Clothing: Laws to Prohibit the Burqa Hit Home for Muslim Women in France

As Americans,a lot of us take for granted certain freedoms. We can wear whatever we want, that come along with living here. however absurd others may think it is—I mean, look at the things Lady Gaga gets away with. We can practice whatever religion we want or openly say we don’t believe in god—Hey in America, you can even make up a religion.

America may rest on a melting pot ideology, a land of immigrants, but that’s not quite the way it works in Europe. Instead, the threat of losing a culture and sense of nationalism to a population of immigrants with an entirely foreign religion tends to cause problems across the sea.

This is happening right now in France. Approximately five million Muslims live in France, the biggest population of Muslims in a western country. Many politicians and psychologists would agree that Muslims transition well into French culture—they learn the language, work, have and raise children in the country. Unfortunately, it seems that France’s parliament has become a little uncomfortable with the growing Muslim population and the inherent differences each individual brings with them, most specifically with their religious clothing and practices.

About 10 days ago, a French parliamentary counsel recommended to the parliament that Muslim women not be permitted to wear a burqa, the religious full body covering, in several public places: hospitals, schools, government offices or public transportation.

In addition to that, a few days ago, they denied citizenship to a man because his wife—a French-born citizen—wears the burqa. Yes, many people in the world would be willing to agree with the fact that the burqa seems demeaning, sexist and discriminatory towards women, but that claim also neglects the idea that it may only seem this way because much of the Western world is not Muslim.

The French government’s argument for this law: these religious coverings are demeaning to women and cause them to be hidden. However, what seems far more demeaning is this intensified threat to French women’s right to choose what they wear. Yes, images of women unveiling their burqas in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban are still fresh in the minds of westerners, but this is not the case in France. These women are not being oppressed or forced to wear the garb; rather, it is a religious and cultural choice. While the government may feel such a choice hides the women, this new law could easily force them into actual hiding if they cannot express their religiousness in public.

Supporters of the proposed law could argue that the women cannot consciously make the choice to wear the burqa because their husbands and their religion oppress them. But forcing them to avoid certain places that are necessities in the modern world, such as government offices and hospitals, is surely not going to magically make them un-oppressed.

France already denies citizenship to women who wear burqas or to Muslims who strictly adhere to the call of prayer on the grounds of “insufficient assimilation.”

The French government has only identified about 2,000 women who wear the burqa, so why such a fuss over 2,000 women in a country of over 60 million?? Perhaps it’s not so much about the burqas or the women; rather, it’s about sending a message to Muslims around the world that they’re no longer welcome in France unless they’re willing to become more French than Muslim and to “assimilate properly.

The burqa may very well be a representation of highly religious Muslims or what some would be inclined to call Muslim extremism, but the majority of the Muslim population (you know, all but the 2,000 identified women) don’t wear them. The attack on the burqa can easily be viewed as an attack on the Muslim religion as a whole and potentially cause the otherwise peaceful and well-assimilated Muslim population to be not so peaceful. Wouldn’t that just prevent assimilation even further?

This is just a terrible idea on France’s part.

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