By Boadicea
Only one MP in the French lower house voted against the new proposition to ban the face-covering garment worn by Muslim women. The law will not be adopted until the upper house has voted but it looks like the ban will come into effect without any real opposition. It should be added that the law will also apply to certain hoods and balaclavas used by bankrobbers and other lawbreakers.
I am frequently told by British visitors to the Somme that they applaud the French government's courage in pushing this law through the assemblée générale. They bemoan Britain's overly multicultural acceptance of all cultural differences; most notably those that betray a lack of respect and freedom for women.
On the other hand, a female friend of mine who is a South African working in Saudi Arabia, told me that she thought the French move "dangerous and provocative". It is understandable that westerners living in Islamic countries do not want to see friction and intolerance being used as weapons in more terrorist campaigns.
I personally do have strong opinions about this subject, as I am sure you do. I am British but I have lived in the Middle East, and I will soon be returning to live there once more. When I was living in Cairo I had no issue with the Egyptian custom of wearing a full length robe that left the face (but not the hair) free. I understood the prudish desire to keep things covered. I did however appreciate being able to look women in the eyes.
What used to disturb me greatly was when the plane came in from Saudi Arabia and women would walk into the arrival lounge covered in a black sheet, wearing gloves, socks and shoes so that no flesh was visible at all.
Roughly ten years later when I went back to Greater Manchester to work you can imagine my profound shock at standing in Bolton town square one day and counting about 15 women thus attired - in the space of about 20 minutes. They were not all together. Some were in pairs, some were with their children or husbands. While I fully understand their wish to cover up and not expose vast amounts of flesh (like some of the girls who were sharing the same pavement) I could not accept this vision in my home country.
I came to the conclusion that I didn't like looking at acres of fat belly flesh with piercings just as much as I didn't like not being able to see a woman's face as she walked by me on the pavement. There are two extremes: one is gratuitous nudity that is exploited by pornography that harms all women; the other is a sinister blacking out of a person's facial features. I opppose both and say one is as dangerous as the other.
For information you may be interested to know that the chador is Persian (Iranian) and leaves the face free (rather like Nora Batty's headscarf); the niqab covers everything but leaves the eyes free (rather like a royal mail post box) and the burqa is the Afghan covering with a mesh design in front of the eyes to stop poor women from walking into things.
