These two articles discuss the new legislation in France that bans Muslim women from wearing Burqas. Proponents of this legislation claim that veils that cover the face are in opposition to French ideals of women's equality or the secular tradition of French society. Muslim women who were protesting France's new legislation were arrested on Monday. Women who break the new legislation by wearing burqas could face a $215 fine. As discussed by Abu-Lughod, the burqa is "central to contemporary concerns about Muslim women" (p.785). The burqa has been described as portable seclusion, in which the burqa is viewed as a "liberating invention because it enabled women to move out of segregated living spaces while still observing the basic moral requirements of separating and protecting women from unrelated men" (p.785). Therefore, the burqa is viewed very positively as well as empowering by Muslim women, but in Western society it is viewed as a means of oppression.
Does this new legislation seem fair? Should Muslim women living in France be subjected to these laws? Does secularity allow for legislation to dictate what Muslim women are allowed to wear? Where do we draw the line on secularism?
I think this may be one of those cases where claiming secularism as a government causes more problems than just letting people be in these cases. In this case, is the French government going to restrict Christians from wearing crosses as necklaces? Regulations such as this can be more harmful and discriminatory than helpful and equalizing. If the Muslim see it as empowering, than who is the Western culture (and the law that governs the Western culture) to tell them otherwise?
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