Will the Veil Ban Help or Hinder the Progress of Muslim Women?

Heated debate surrounds recent legislation in Europe that aims to ban Muslim women from covering their faces in public. While the reasoning behind the ban is to protect Muslim women from oppression, some wonder if that is actually what the ban will accomplish. Many women simply view the ban as a limit on their constitutional right to choose what they can wear.

Several European cities and countries have introduced legislation to ban women from wearing veils in public spaces, including Barcelona and Belgium. Barcelona’s mayor insists that the law is not about religion, but rather about being able to identify individuals. The law would also ban helmets, balaclavas and ski masks, in addition to headscarves. But the legislation being debated in France, home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, is perhaps the most controversial. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, is pushing for the bill (which was approved by the French Cabinet on May 19) to be passed even though he was warned that the courts could find the bill unconstitutional.

In 2004, headscarves and other religious symbols were banned in schools for both teachers and students in France in order to uphold French secularism. The newly proposed bill, which will be voted on in July, will take things even further by banning headscarves in all public spaces. Those who defy the ban will be fined and could possibly face jail time. Sarkozy said the veil ban is meant to save women from feeling subservient and degraded. But, not everyone agrees.

Islam does not require women to cover their faces; it only requires hijab, which requires that women dress modestly. Some Muslim women freely choose to wear the traditional garb and cover their faces, although they most certainly will face discrimination and hatred, likely born out of fear bred by the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Hebah Ahmed says that 9/11 actually prompted her to begin wearing a veil so that she could serve as a positive Muslim example and combat the negative stereotypes against her religion. Although she has ignorantly been labeled as a terrorist because of her appearance, she says that it makes her feel closer to God and forces others to focus on her mind instead of the way she looks.

In this video: Veil Ban Bill to French Cabinet, Women Protest, several Muslim women in France express their disagreement with the veil ban. They say that, after wearing a veil for several years, it has become a part of them and their every day lives. They also make a valid point that they should have a right to wear anything that they want. How can a law tell a woman what she can and cannot wear?

On the other hand, there are women who do not wear a veil by choice and are forced by their husbands to cover themselves. This is often what people assume when they see women covered up in public. The recent movie, “Sex & the City 2″, even broached this controversial subject by portraying the Muslim women in the movie as oppressed by their culture. In the film, the women were unhappy and secretly opposed to having to cover themselves. In one scene they removed their jilbabs and burkas to reveal Western fashions to the delight of the movie’s main characters. The film has been criticized by some for being anti-Muslim and for inaccurately portraying all Muslim women as oppressed.

But Kenza Drider does not think the ban will help those oppressed women, even though it was supposedly created to liberate them. Drider feels that men will simply forbid their wives from leaving the house and thus they will be forced to remain covered up and there is nothing the law can do. Drider has been wearing a veil since she was 11, and although she has endured both verbal and physical attacks, she refuses to uncover herself. For her, covering up is a spiritual choice and she stated that she would rather go to jail then remove her veil. She feels that the proposed veil ban is anti-Islam on the part of the French and that it encourages islamophobia.

The proposed ban continues to cause an uproar among Muslim women and others. A woman in France was recently stopped by the police and charged with erratic driving. Because she was wearing a niqab (a scarf that covers the majority of the face), the police claimed that it impaired her driving. She was given a $31 ticket and was asked to remove her headscarf. Another woman in Belgium was fired for refusing to remove her veil while teaching in the classroom. After wearing a veil for more than two years, she was asked to remove it. She took the case to court, but the odds did not end up in her favor.

Will the veil ban find its way to the United States? If the President has his way, probably not. President Obama has already stated that the U.S. government has fought to give women the right to wear hijab, although some feel his view should be more in line with Europe. Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has publicly denounced Europe for its attitude toward Muslim women wearing veils because he feels the ban displays intolerance toward Islam. Many will anxiously wait to see if the veil ban legislation becomes a law and what the effects will be. Based on the outrage that has already been witnessed, one can expect much more disapproval if the law is passed.

This article is part of a series titled “The Fight for Women’s Rights Around the World,” which will focus on issues affecting women across the globe as they fight to gain equal rights and even basic rights that many of us take for granted. Look for upcoming articles about more issues relating to women’s rights and how we can work together to make a change.

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