ISLAM:
FEMINISTS SILENT ABOUT WOMEN IN BURQAS
Babette Francis, May 29, 2010
Well, it has taken two white men, President Nicolas Sarkozy
of France and Senator Cory Bernardi of South Australia, to call for the
freeing of Muslim women imprisoned in their burqas, that voluminous head-to-toe
black (or blue) garment which covers the wearer completely, leaving only
a small slit for the eyes.
Credit should also be given to the Belgian government which has banned
the burqa, and to clerics at Al-Azhar University in Egypt who have suggested
that female students should not wear burqas on campus. I am not sure whether
this latter recommendation has been implemented, but it is commendable
that a Muslim university, the second oldest in Egypt and one whose
history as a madrassa goes back to 970 has taken an enlightened
view.
Contrary to the views of our multicultural and diversity devotees, the
burqa is not merely a cultural artefact: it involves the imprisonment
of women, not behind bars, but in a tent made of cloth. Actually,
women imprisoned in a conventional jail may enjoy more freedom than women
imprisoned in burqas. The former, when let out of their cells for exercise,
can enjoy a breeze on their faces and hair, and the sun on their faces,
arms and legs. Women in burqas frequently suffer from vitamin D deficiency
and all the associated bone ill-health because they experience
little or no sunlight. Women in burqas cannot play sport and are impeded
in running, cycling and driving. Swimming, except in exclusive baths and
at very restricted times, is impossible.
But far worse than the physical restrictions is the psychological imprisonment.
Just as female genital mutilation (also forbidden by clerics at Al Azhar
University) is a physical mutilation, the wearing of the burqa is a psychological
and social mutilation of women. It cuts them off from the world in which
they live, it leaves them unable to make face-to-face contact with outsiders
or even friends, or to know that others have seen their smiles.
I am amazed that Western feminists have not called for a ban on the burqa,
and that it has been left to white males to attempt to eliminate this
system of female oppression. Do feminists hate Western values so much
that they are prepared to ignore this most visible practice of female
disadvantage which actually makes its hapless wearers invisible?
Feminists complain vociferously that women are sometimes ignored by bank
managers or salesmen who turn to the husbands accompanying them as if
the men make all the decisions. Why havent feminists spoken out
on behalf of the women imprisoned in burqas who perforce remain silent
at all such professional, business and social encounters?
I have lived in Muslim-majority provinces in India before the 1947 Partition,
and know first hand that those wearing the burqa (in India known as purdah)
have no fun. I remember when we were children, the games and laughter
with my young Muslim girl friends silenced when they reached puberty
and disappeared into purdah.
During the apartheid era of racial discrimination in South Africa, that
country was not allowed to participate in the Olympic Games or other international
sporting events. Why are men from those Muslim countries, which forbid
their women to participate in sport in public, allowed to participate
in the Olympic Games and other international sporting events? Isnt
sexist exclusion from sport just as bad as racist exclusion?
Participation in sport is not only a matter of playing games, but of health.
The health of women is damaged if they cannot move freely in the open,
but are imprisoned within voluminous tents of cloth.
I have written to Kevin Gosper, Australias representative on the
Olympic Committee, that sanctions should be imposed on Muslim
countries which bar their women from participating in sport on the same
basis as their men, but so far have had little response.
Predictably, Senator Bernardi has been criticised by the president of
the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Mr Ikebal Patel, who described
his suggestion of banning the burqa as irrational and un-Australian.
But I agree with Senator Bernardi. It is not just the issue of bandits
hiding within burqas but of freeing innocent women from atrocious
constraints.
If Senator Bernardis suggestion was implemented, we could hear more
clearly the presently muffled voices of those imprisoned in burqas, and
maybe even see them enjoy our beaches. What could be more Australian than
that?
Babette Francis is Australian and international co-ordinator of Endeavour
Forum Inc., an NGO having special consultative status with the Economic
and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC).
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