Index on Censorship » veil

Bosnia considers face veil ban

Intern — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:10:20 +0000

The Bosnian Central Parliament is to discuss new legislation on 1 September that would ban the wearing of a face veil, or niqab. The new law would impose a 24-hour curfew on veiled women, and those violating the ban could be fined 50 euros. Muslim women held a protest outside the Central Parliament in Sarajevo after the proposal was made by the Bosnian Serb Party of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). France and Syria have already banned the veil, and the Netherlands and Belgium are considering similar legislation.

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Quebec to ban niqab

Intern — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:55:33 +0000

Quebec’s legislature has introduced a bill which could ban woman wearing the niqab face veil if they wish to access public services in the province. Public debate on the controversial Bill 94 has been suspended until August after more than 60 recommendations were received in the first three days of testimony. It is now unlikely that the bill will be voted into law before the end of the current legislative session in June.

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Mauritania: Veiled women banned from courtroom

Intern — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:25:36 +0000

Security forces in Mauritania have banned veiled women from entering a courtroom where a terrorism case is being heard. Veiled women were also prevented from visiting the 20 defendants, who are accused of killing four French tourists in 2007 and attacking the Israeli embassy in 2008.

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The right to veil

Emily Butselaar — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:42:56 +0000

Suggesting banning women from dressing how they please is deeply offensive says Jess McCabe

Once again, the issue of veiling has resurfaced, this time after UKIP’s former party leader Nigel Farage called for Muslim women to be banned from covering their faces in public places and public buildings, according to the Guardian.

No doubt enlivened by the proposals for similar bans in France and Denmark (in the latter country, a recent study found that only the three women wear the burqa, along with a handful of women who wear the niqab). Farage wants us to believe such a ban would be neither “radical nor ridiculous”. The Guardian reports that he wants to impose such a ban in the name of: “preventing extremists from imposing their culture — including Sharia law — on Britain”.

When he talks about Muslim women who chose to wear the niqab (and other forms of veiling which involve covering their faces), as “imposing their culture” on Britain, we can learn a lot about where this illiberal and intolerant desire to uncover Muslim women comes from.

For Farage, the mere glimpse of a woman who chooses to veil in this way, and is therefore visibly ‘different’ to his concept of what British culture constitutes, is a threat. But what’s the real threat to British culture? Muslim women choosing to veil –– or UKIP, who wish to make this sartorial and religious choice illegal in public places?

Writing for the ever-so-sharp blog Muslimah Media Watch last year, Alicia said:

“It is all too easy to pounce on the weakest members of society (the women, the minorities, the Muslims) in an effort to reinforce the superiority of White European culture. To avoid appearing bigoted and xenophobic, this superiority is couched on enlightened values associated with the freedom of the individual.”

The fact that women covering their faces makes some people uncomfortable cannot, in a free, liberal society, be a justification for forcing them to conform to UKIP’s notions of what women should be wearing, or force them to choose between veiling and the right to enter public places and participate fully in society.

Given that Farage literally wants to restrict already marginalised women from accessing public space, his misuse of the rhetoric of feminism and women’s rights is ironic at best. And, perhaps it is no surprise he’s confused over what would increase women’s rights and what would restrict them, if we look at UKIP’s record on gender issues.

Jess McCabe is the editor of The F Word.

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