Ban on full-face veils: Rational or Atrocious
Angela Merkel has called for a ban on full-face veils that are common in Muslim women in Germany. The German chancellor in her speech told the conservative CDU party that wearing burka or the face covering veil should be banned in areas where it is legally possible.
It is mandatory at some places like banks, etc. to show your face before the security cameras to reveal your identity for security reasons. It becomes uncomfortable for both the security officers and women to ask and to be asked to show their faces. Merkel believes that burqa is a barrier to Muslim women who are trying to become integrated into German society.
Rational1. Complete cover barriers interactions: Muslim women, fighting atrocity and rising high to find their identity, need to interact and integrate in the society they are living in. The ones migrated are especially in need of crossing over to the other side of the fence where they can find a life for themselves, spared of apprehensions and differences. If they are completely covered, it is definitely difficult for them to have one to one conversation with people they want to build trust with.
2. Coerced into wearing veil: Hijabs that cover only the head or even full face veils should be a matter of choice and not something that women are forced to wear. Unfortunately, this is not so for women coming from the extremist regions. They are mostly coerced by their father or husband into wearing the full-face veil and staying at home all day. No education, no career is what they get out of staying in these restrictions.
3. Security reasons: The world is talking about increased security at places that are covered by security cameras. However, the cameras and all security measures are of no use if a suspect’s image is captured in face covered naqabs. For crying out loud, everyone knows that the naqab could be misused. Men, terrorists and criminals could be wearing them and no one would know.
4. Patriarchal society: Women are still considered by the migrants from some countries to stay behind men. They are ordered to stay within restrictions that religion placed upon them thousands of years back in an entirely different era. The irony is that men of the same community have adapted to changes. They do not stay confined to the rules binding them to dress in a particular sort of way and yet boss around women of their families to obey orthodox rules.
5. Banning is the only way: Women migrants have been more troubled than anyone else. They want changes but cannot ask. They are fighting a war with their own people where they don’t want to hurt their fathers and brothers who believe in keeping them confined and yet they are eager to explore. Their war is within community and family. They cannot win but they cannot fight their own people with aggression. An intervention with a complete ban is the only way to lead them out of this treachery.
6. Not mandatory: If we look at the broader picture, Muslim women across the globe do not stay confined to the full face veil anywhere. It is agreed that for some who follow the norm, it is their individual choice but when welfare of a community of their entire womanhood comes into question for a norm that is followed by few, it is not very difficult to choose among them. Banning would eventually be beneficial for Muslim women and the entire community.
Atrocious1. Individual choice: Interview some women of the same community in question here and you will get a plethora of different opinions. Some of them or let’s say an entire section of them feel that full face veil is their own choice. They wear it not because they have to have been ordered to by their community or holy book but because they want to and prefer it. Banning a certain type of dressing choice is oppression too; at least it will be in the eyes of these women.
2. Differentiating: There is bound to be an outrage if government of any nation tries to put a ban on something that is religious for a community. They will feel like the government is trying to be partial towards them, showing them to be backwards and less developed. This kind of differentiations and apprehensions could backfire at times of distress where migrant crisis is on rise in Germany and other regions.
3. Helmets with masks: If it is a matter of security and staying in the open, this rule should also apply to those who wear customized helmets that cover the face to a great extent. The face is covered enough to make them stay concealed from security cameras. Making exceptions only for Muslim women is bound to outrage many.
Personal choice and liberty should be respected. It is agreed upon that everyone should have the right to wear what they want. However, the bigger concern here is quite larger than the whole dimension of choice and perspective. It is about relieving those who have been oppressed since forever. Muslim women are crying out loud to free them from the patriarchal rules that have clipped their wings for decades. It is about time that someone takes a measure as stringent as this one to help them.
