France’s new ban on women wearing burqas and niqab is causing an increase in street harassment for the women who continue to wear them for religious/personal reasons.

Via the Guardian:

“In April, France introduced a law against covering your face in public. Muslim women in full-face veils, or niqab, are now banned from any public activity including walking down the street, taking a bus, going to the shops or collecting their children from school. French politicians in favour of the ban said they were acting to protect the “gender equality” and “dignity” of women. But five months after the law was introduced, the result is a mixture of confusion and apathy. Muslim groups report a worrying increase in discrimination and verbal and physical violence against women in veils. There have been instances of people in the street taking the law into their hands and trying to rip off full-face veils, of bus drivers refusing to carry women in niqab or of shop-owners trying to bar entry. A few women have taken to wearing bird-flu-style medical masks to keep their face covered; some describe a climate of divisiveness, mistrust and fear.

Ahmas, 32, French, a divorced single mother of a three-year-old daughter, puts her handbag on the table and takes out a pepper spray and attack alarm. She doesn’t live on the high-rise estates but on a quiet street of semi-detached houses. The last time she was attacked in the street a man and woman punched her in front of her daughter, called her a whore and told her to go back to Afghanistan.

‘My quality of life has seriously deteriorated since the ban. In my head, I have to prepare for war every time I step outside, prepare to come up against people who want to put a bullet in my head. The politicians claimed they were liberating us; what they’ve done is to exclude us from the social sphere. Before this law, I never asked myself whether I’d be able to make it to a cafe or collect documents from a town hall. One politician in favour of the ban said niqabs were ‘walking prisons’. Well, that’s exactly where we’ve been stuck by this law’….

Only the French police can confront a woman in niqab. They can’t remove her veil but must refer the case to a local judge, who can hand out a ¤150 (£130) fine, a citizenship course, or both….

Kenza Drider, a 32-year-old mother of three, was famously bold enough to appear on French television to oppose the law before it came into force. She refuses to take off her niqab – “My husband doesn’t dictate what I do, much less the government” – but she says she now lives in fear of attack. “I still go out in my car, on foot, to the shops, to collect my kids. I’m insulted about three to four times a day,” she says. Most say, “Go home”; some say, “We’ll kill you.” One said: “We’ll do to you what we did to the Jews.” In the worst attack, before the law came in, a man tried to run her down in his car.”

Ridiculous. This is religious persecution and the ban is being used as an excuse by too many to violently harass women.

I am not in favor of countries that either require women to cover their faces or require that they do not. There are so many complex reasons why women would choose to wear (or not wear) a veil and it’s not right for people who do not wear a veil to put their standards and beliefs on those who do. As long as it harms no one else, women should be free to choose what to wear. And they certainly shouldn’t receive death threats or beatings over that choice!

The article noted that many of the harassers in France are older people, and to me it sounds like they may be afraid of change and don’t like to see the growing diversity in France. But every country is becoming more diverse and that is something old and young need to get used to, not fight with persecution.

Belgium and regions of northern Italy have similar laws banning face veils, while legislators in Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland are pushing for a ban too. Is it because they are afraid of more diversity in their countries? I seriously wonder because if they really care about gender equality, there are more effective and inclusive measures they could undertake than a burqa ban.

What if each of these countries focused the time/energy/anger they are spending on banning a few hundred women from wearing burqas (and most women are ignoring the ban anyway) on ending the gender wage gap, fostering more women leaders, prosecuting rapists, and making public places safe for all women, no matter what they wear!!

That would be something I’d support.