- Maggie Lucas
A Muslim woman in Toronto is fighting for the right to wear her niqab in court when she testifies. She is appealing a lower court’s decision that she cannot.
There other places where Muslim women are being evicted into 2010 in the supposedly free world, being forbidden to wear a face covering to go to school, or enter public buildings. In April a Belgian court banned the wearing of burkas and niqabs in public. France has recently approved this kind of legislation. Quebec has introduced sweeping legislation that effectively bars Muslim women from receiving or delivering public services while wearing a niqab.
Backstory: My mother had a subscription to Ms magazine from issue one, July 1972. She had four daughters and no sons, so there was no division of child labour in her home. We lived in Ottawa; with embassies from around the world we would see women wearing a niqab or burka or tobe probably more often than say, folks in Halifax.
Any time she saw a woman dressed so, my mother began ranting and fuming about these women being subjugated, under their husbands’ thumbs, forced into submission, etc., etc.
I went along with her. Of course these women should be free to wear tie-dyed T-shirts and bell bottoms, the right I had as a citizen of the free world.
After I spent a year in Egypt, Sudan and the south of France, in 1974—75, I changed my mind.
In Egypt and Sudan I was often at gatherings where men and women were separated. At first I usually went with the men, a chance I had as an outsider. Later on I would go with the women, and it was in those female-only enclaves that I would most clearly see each woman as an individual: funny or grumpy or shy or opinionated—whatever.
The south of France did the most to change my mind. At the beaches of Nice, Cannes and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat most women were young and slim and topless. In all the cafes, women wore only tiny bikini bras and sarongs, or simply sat and scarfed down their Croque Madames and Ricards in their bikinis. It was what was done.
I sure didn’t. I come from a place where women do not sit in restaurants in their bikinis. I would be uncomfortable anywhere in a bikini. And topless? Please. I feel strongly that away from the beach, cottage or lawn mower, everybody should keep their shirts on.
No one agitated for me to assume a state of address I would be uncomfortable with, for whatever reason: religious, body image, habit. I would have felt like a skank, no matter if everyone else was doing it.
If you have spent your adult life wearing a shirt in public, you don’t want to go without one. If you have spent your adult life wearing a face covering in public, you don‘t want to go without one. Having your default sartorial splendor legislated away must so totally suck.
- Maggie Lucas
- Kansas, herself
It was just for a lark, and for just an afternoopn, but I have worn a burka. Worn it in public and worn it driving. Not in Sudan or Egypt—on Maynard Street in Halifax. Maggie Lucas, Halifax photographer and artist was curious about what it would be to wear a burka, and to photograph women in one, so she ordered one from Pakistan, and I had the chance to try. My glasses wouldn’t fit very well under the face grill. You couldn’t tell where I was looking. You couldn’t see one thing about me except maybe a vague idea of my height (and that would be if you knew how high my heels were). But you know what? I could see you.
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 2010.
For me, the issue with a burka is about limiting the ability to see identifiable traits. I am uncomfortable with the idea of people wearing masks, full body make-up, a box, anything in public that would prevent me from being able to identify them to a police officer. If you or any of the readers could discuss that issue, it would be appreciated.
Hmmm. Yes, I would want to be able to identify someone to police, IF they were involved in a crime. Do folks have the right to go grocery shopping (without criminal intent) and remain anonymous? Context is important to me. So, if there’s people wearing boxes shopping in Sobey’s, I might feel creeped out, (probably I would be more curious than anything else) but without a law forbidding it, I would support their right to do it.
To the point of the French having banned burqa/niqab/hijab in public, I think it’s more of a religious iconography (separation of church and state) issue than anything else. I mean, in France, it’s frowned upon to wear a cross around your neck, or even for a Jew to wear a yarmulke. They even told the Sikhs that they couldn’t wear turbans. Couple that with a healthy xenophobia (something the French have in spades) and it seems that they’re the bad guys, when all they’re doing is removing a religious element from public life, which, given France’s history, it’s fair to them.
In Canada, specifically, I think that in a place of common law, I think such issues should be removed. Especially considering that they jury would only see the covering, not the person, or the testimony for that matter. I fully understand that she would feel naked, and while that is regrettable, religious/cultural matters would get in the way of a proper trial. Therefore, justice, as we accept it, would not be completed.
Now in any other context, sure. Canada is a multicultural nation, not a melting pot like many other countries. Do what you want to do, wear what you want to wear.
Right on. Women should not be forced to wear – or NOT wear – anything. There is a great TED talk where a philosopher shows how our Western culture of sexualising women is just as bad as a culture of hiding women away: NEITHER allows women to be themselves.
I see this as being an issue of safety and identification more than the suppression of rights. Like you said “you couldn’t see one thing about me…” Exactly. If you choose to cause harm how are you to be identified? If you are a witness, how are you to be found? We are a multi-cultural country, but that does not mean we accept all aspects of all cultures. It also does not mean we do not have a culture of our own that deserves to be respected by those choosing to join it. Do we allow forced female circumcisions, child marriages, or honour killings? No, because it is not part of our culture and we don’t particularly want it to be. It is okay to say no, and it does make us racist. Sometimes you need to make sacrifices. Showing your face is a sacrifice that one might have to make in exchange for living in a basically free and accepting society.
Jack
jane, you never disappoint. thanks for this!
I don’t give a shit what anyone wears.
I don’t believe anyone should be allowed in public walking around with their faces covered.
Whether it be a baclava, a burka face covering, a full face helmit, scarf etc.
THere is IMO, NO REASON for anyone to be out & about with their faces covered. You want to be at a mosque & wear your traditional clothes, fine, but not in public.
How would you feel if motorcyclists got off their bikes & walked around with their visors down…there is no way to identify who they are & in our modern terrorist filled world, identification of the individual should take priority over petty personal ways to dress.
Why do people become so concerned about safety and identification when a woman’s face is covered? There’s a not-so gentle suggestion going on here that makes me uncomfortable. People wear hoodies, baseball caps, giant sunglasses, scarves, bike helmets all the time, and it doesn’t make the news. Except for hoodies, for similar reasons.
I agree with Jane: it’s all about context. A person wearing a duck mask in a bank. Problem. A woman, covering her face, grocery shopping with her kids. I just don’t see what the issue is, if this is her choice.