Coverage of the burka debate “hijacking” the real issue

The burka debate playing out in web and newspaper pages is “hijacking” a more important and broader concern.

The real issue, according to the panel at a recent debate in Brussels, Europe’s Muslim Women: under cover and under pressure, is the integration of Muslim women into European society.

“We’re talking about active citizenship,” said Shada Islam, the event’s moderator and a senior programme executive at the European Policy Centre.

But challenges European Muslim women face to achieving active citizenship are broad and significant. They are also largely ignored, overwhelmed by the complex and emotional debate surrounding the veil. Even in the panel discussion, the veil threatened to obscure the greater debate, referenced again and again by both the panellists themselves and in the audience’s questions.

But as the first inquirer asked, is the burka really an issue? The number of women in Europe who actually wear one suggests otherwise. Fewer than 2,000 women in France wear a burka or niqab. In the Netherlands, the number is closer to 100.

Political leaders like Nicolas Sarkozy in France, and many others elsewhere, insist on making the veil a political priority. In many areas of Europe, the debate extends even to headscarves – quite a different (and less controversial) matter than the face-covering burka or niqab, insisted Member of the European Parliament Sajjad Karim. Politicians aren’t the only culprits though. According to Karim, Britain’s first Muslim MEP, the media is at fault as well, with an “agenda,” he claimed, that is “misrepresenting Islam and Muslims in Europe.”

The political and media emphasis on the controversial issue of dress has taken Muslim women “hostage,” argued Malika Hamidi, the director general of the European Muslim Network, and overshadowed the fundamental problems Muslim women confront.

Karim framed these challenges in a larger context: What does it mean to be a European? More specifically, what does it mean to be a European Muslim woman? Karim believes there can be and is a distinct European Islam. Islam, he said, is a “universal” religion, one that “does not belong to the people in the Middle East.” Rather, it takes on regional and cultural distinctions.

Neither European identity nor European Islam is easily defined or understood. And for Muslim women, the definitions are particularly problematic. There are tremendous internal and external pressures. Internally, Muslim women must often deal with the traditional expectations of their families and religion, dictating much of their roles both in and outside of the home.

Outside, they encounter the expectations of a largely secular society and face discrimination on three fronts: racial, sexual and religious, which compound obstacles all women confront related to employment and pay, and childcare. Overcoming this discrimination and negotiating the two sets of oft-conflicting expectations pose significant challenges for Europe’s Muslim women.

These are the challenges Shada Islam implored her panel and audience – and all of Europe – to focus on. She wrote earlier this year, “prosperity, stability, security and social peace across the continent depends on the successful integration of Europe’s Muslim citizens.”

“We need to move beyond it [the burka issue],” she said, so Europe’s Muslim women – and Europe as a whole – can move beyond it too.

The burka and headcovering debate is unlikely to go away any time soon.  Though much of the current media attention is focused on France’s proposed burka ban, the controversy extends across much of Europe.

The following is a look at eight Europen countries struggling with the issue. 

France

On 26 January 2010, a parliamentary commission recommended a partial ban on veils that cover the face.  It would apply to most public buildings and public transportation, but not on streets.  It is estimated that less than 2,000 women in France wear the burka.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s stance on the matter is clear. He said on 23 June, 2009, “The problem of the burka is not a religious problem.  This is an issue of a woman’s freedom and dignity.  This is not a religious symbol. It is a sign of subservience; it is a sign of lowering.  I want to say solemnly, the burka is not welcome in France.”

A 2004 law banned all “conspicuous” religious symbols (large crucifixes, Sikh turbans, Jewish kippah, Muslim headscarves) in French public schools.

In 2008, a Moroccan woman was denied French citizenship because she was deemed too “radical” for wearing the niqab. 

In the summer of 2009, a Muslim woman was expelled from a French public swimming pool for wearing a “burquini,” a “head-to-toe swimsuit.” Authorities defended the move as an issue of hygiene. 

Earlier this year, French authorities refused citizenship to a man who “allegedly forced his wife to wear’’ a veil.

Belgium

A January, 2004, proposal to ban the wearing of “conspicuous” religious symbols in Belgian schools was rejected. But a number of schools and towns in Belgium have instituted their own restrictions.  And in September, 2009, controversy led to a ban on religious symbols in public schools for all of Flanders. The ban includes headscarves.

A 2007 Antwerp city council policy says city employees who work with residents should not wear religious or political symbols. 

The city of Maaseik instituted a complete public ban on the burka in 2004, with a fine for non-compliance. 

Germany

There is some new debate regarding a national burka ban in Germany, although a ban is controversial and not imminent. Eight of Germany’s 16 states states do not allow public school teachers to wear religious clothing or symbols. A similar ban in Berlin applies to civil servants.

There has also been controversy over the construction of new mosques in Germany, particularly in Cologne. The new Cologne mosque, currently under construction, will be Germany’s largest.  It received approval from the city council in August ,2008.  Germany currently has more than 160 mosques, and nearly 200 more under construction.

Italy

Members of Parliament from the Northern League party proposed a burka ban in October, 2009, although Parliament has not considered it.  The controversial proposal would strengthen a 1975 law that forbids clothing or helmets that obscure identification. The original measure was intended to combat domestic terrorism.

Netherlands

The government has opted not to impose a general ban on burkas. The decision was made regarding a proposed ban ffirst introduced to the Parliament in 2006 by Geert Wilders, a right-wing leader of the anti-immigration party.

Although the general ban was rejected, a ban on full-face veils applies in schools and universities.

Switzerland

The Swiss cabinet announced in February that it opposes a burka ban. The written statement answered an inquiry from parliament.

The debate in Switzerland is focused more on buildings. A ban on the construction of minarets gained approval in a public referendum in November, 2009. Though the referendum proposal was submitted by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the federal government opposed it. An appeal on the referendum has already been made to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.  Switzerland has about 400,000 Muslims and 4 minarets. 

Turkey

Viewed as symbols of political Islam, head coverings have been banned in public buildings since the 1980s. In 1997, the ban was applied more strictly to universities.  But opposition to the university ban has grown.  In February, 2008, the Parliament approved an amendment to allow headscarves in universities, only to have it declared unconstitutional by the county’s highest court the following June.

United Kingdom

In a column on 5 October, 2006, the leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, asked Muslim women to “remove their niqabs in order to help community relations.” His article sparked controversy and further explanation.

Also in 2006, a teaching assistant was fired for wearing her veil while working with students.  She said she was willing to remove it around students, but not if male colleagues were near. An employment tribunal dismissed her claim of religious discrimination.

A 12-year-old girl who was told she could not wear a veil covering her face in school lost a legal challenge in 2007. A 2007 directive from Britain’s Schools Minister permitted schools to ban head coverings on the basis of security, safety or learning environment.

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Flickr images from users superblinkymac, kamshots, rob7812, Razan Ghazzawi, chrisschuepp

Posted on March 30, 2010 by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Filed under blogging.