Women who wear this sort of garb must think about whether the full veil is a practical dress choice given the circumstances of modern life and they should also discuss the consequences of giving the impression that they want to be invisible. In Europe, burqa-like veils don’t have the same connotation as headscarves and the former is generally perceived as the symbol of radical religious trends. Above all, the fact that the burqa has become a legislative matter in France and elsewhere in Europe deserves a thorough debate.
The French bill, as with its Belgian equivalent, is seen more than anything else like a step aspiring to punish the women. The fact that those who oblige women to wear burqas risk higher fines is probably justified through human rights principles. However, does France need an additional law on this? The current legislation seems to be sufficient to protect women when they claim to be put under pressure for one reason or another. The problem is that most people are totally convinced that Muslim women wear face-covering veils, or even headscarves, just because they are forced to wear them. No one seems to think that there may be women who dress like this because of their personal choices motivated by religious feelings and maybe these are not just ignorant, immature women who only think about making more babies. These laws probably limit some women’s free choices, which is a paradox in a secular democratic and pluralist environment.
Another problem about this ban concerns the “public area” dimension of the law. It is not a totally unfounded argument that burqas may become a security matter as they make people who wear them unrecognizable to others. Nonetheless, who can know for sure that a woman wearing a burqa sitting in a park, and not a random man shopping at the market, will place a bomb in the metro station later on? The desire to ban burqas in public places is probably the result of the French habit of ignoring what they don’t like. From this perspective, if these women stay at home, no one will see them; everyone will forget they even exist and the problem will then be “resolved.”
Nevertheless, this issue can’t be managed simply by confining these women to their houses. Fines will not make these women and their families more docile citizens. Besides, such legislation will certainly affect Muslim countries’ perception towards France and the distrust of Paris will grow stronger.
There are those in France who criticize this bill because they don’t see why a law is needed when there are less than 2,000 women in the country who wear face-covering veils. They are not wrong, but the problem is not about the numbers. Even if there is only one person concerned, the subject deserves debate because of the EU’s values, norms and laws. If it was the contrary, we would have to ask how many women wearing burqas are necessary to propose a ban.
It’s not too hard to understand why this matter is so important for the French people, and some of their reasons are even justified. However, such a ban can’t be the best option. Because excluding some people from social life and making them “invisible” may create bigger social problems in the future
