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Headscarves: contentious cloths (bbc)
lala
09/24/03 at 14:08:36
Headscarves: contentious cloths
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3135600.stm

By Clare Murphy
BBC News Online  


Few pieces of headwear prompt such controversy.

A number of European countries are currently struggling with the dilemmas posed by the Muslim headscarf, which throws up a variety of difficult issues relating to tolerance and equality.


Ms Ludin does not fit into the victim category
On Wednesday, the highest court in Germany ruled that a school in the southern state of Baden Wuerttemberg was wrong under current legislation to exclude a female teacher for insisting on wearing a headscarf to work.

The school had argued that it violated the state's neutrality in religion. The teacher, 31-year-old Fereshta Ludin, declared the school was violating her freedom of religion.

The ruling does not, however, permanently settle the issue, leaving it open for individual states to establish a firm legal basis for barring the scarf from schools if they so wish.

Nonetheless, it has outraged prominent German feminists, who see the head covering as a symbol of women's oppression which has no place in a democratic society - and certainly not in a school.

Conflicting concerns

Germany is not alone in its dilemma.

Since the beginning of this year, debate about the rights and wrongs of headscarves has been raging in France as well as in Turkey, where the majority practise the Muslim faith but where scarves are banned in public buildings.

For all three countries, efforts to prevent the headscarf appearing in civic spaces have raised serious questions about religious tolerance, and, in France and Germany, fuelled the ongoing row about the relative benefits of assimilation as opposed to multi-culturalism in an age of immigration.

 I felt discriminated against for many years and this decision is a big relief for me

Fereshta Ludin


Why I wear the veil  
Those hostile to the headscarf on the grounds of their objection to the nature of the Muslim faith - which is viewed by some as profoundly intolerant - find themselves in the awkward position of seeking themselves to stamp out the expression of a religion in the name of tolerance.

The issue of women's rights and the headscarf is also problematic for many feminists.

"If we allow women to wear headscarves in state schools, then the republic and French democracy have made clear their religious tolerance but they have given up on any equality of the sexes in our country," says French philosopher Elisabeth Badinter

 We must defend secularism - the next step may be separate train compartments for men and women, beaches reserved for one sex

Alain Juppe
Former French PM  
But these concerns about female oppression within the Islamic faith also have to be squared with the fact that a number of Muslim women are clearly keen to wear the scarf.

In France, campaigns to stop the state cracking down on the wearing of the headscarf are often run by young Muslim women confident of their right to fulfil their potential and their right to express their religion.

Neither does Ms Ludin fit into the category of victim. An educated young woman of middle-class parents, she has no qualms about her right to pursue a career or to wear a headscarf.

"I see my religion as a fundamental part of my identity," she has declared.

Secularity and freedom

But while many women clearly do see the wearing of the scarf as a personal identity issue, their insistence upon it is raising issues about the political identity and the authority of the state.

In France, secularity has been enshrined in the constitution since 1905.

But the country has not always been so keen to assert a ban on headscarves in schools. In 1989, the then left-wing government declared that the wearing of scarves was not necessarily incompatible with France being a secular state as long as they were not ostentatious.

The decision on whether to allow pupils to wear them or not has been left up to the discretion of headteachers.

The new centre-right government however has said it is prepared to pass a law banning all religious effects from the classroom.

This stance has been applauded by a number of women's rights activists, but has also left the government open to allegations of racism, and to the charge that it is seeking to woo the large numbers of voters who opted for the far-right, anti-immigrant leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in last year's presidential election.

Other critics worry that such a law would simply push Muslim girls out of the state system, jeopardising integration. This term the country's first private Muslim school opened in the northern city of Lille.

The row in Turkey, meanwhile, over women's right to wear headscarves has taken on particular resonance in the last year since the Islamic-based Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power.

The headscarf, worn by more than half of Turkey's women, is seen as a symbol of Islamic fundamentalism by the defenders of Turkey's ardently secularist state and is banned in government institutions and schools.

The wife of the Turkish prime minister Mr Erdogan wears such a covering, but he himself has declared that resolving the headscarf issue is not among his government's priorities.

Nonetheless the country's influential generals remain highly suspicious.


What is your reaction to this piece? Have you had any personal experiences relating to the Muslim headscarf? Send us your comments using the form below. (go to bbc link)



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Your comments:

 The ban is not against a scarf as such, but against the symbol of oppression

Prasanth Lal, India  
It might look as if our "freedom" has been affected by the ban to wear a head scarf, but think again. It is not just a piece of cloth. It symbolises the oppression that Muslim women face all over the world. The ban is not against a scarf as such, but against the symbol of oppression.
Prasanth Lal, India

How come a nun's dress code is not considered as "oppression" but rather a pious person submitting herself to God, which is what exactly a Muslim woman does? See any similarity?
Assad, UK

 Wearing scarves is not only an Islamic tradition, it's a Christian one too

Marian C Ghilea, USA  
I think it's everybody's right to chose to wear or not a scarf. If women are forced not to wear scarves, it is as bad as if they are forced to wear them. I come from an Orthodox Christian family and I never saw my grandmother without a scarf on her head. And I can tell you that nobody forced her to wear it. Wearing scarves is not only an Islamic tradition, it's a Christian one too.
Marian C Ghilea, USA

It is all about freedom and equality. France is a secular country where religion is limited to the private sphere. The headscarf is discrimination against women and non-Muslims and a blatant violation of the Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen; it is a symbol of oppression and a denial of freedom of thought. One is first of all a French citizen and not a Muslim as some of the Islamists want to twist the debate. The headscarf is to be banned from public places, plain and simple.
Patrick, France

 Where is the freedom of expression that Europe claims to have?

Mas, Australia  
I can't believe that school children in Germany are allowed to wear whatever they want but are prohibited from wearing a headscarf. Where is the freedom of religion? Where is the freedom of expression that Europe claims to have? Most Muslim Women who wear a headscarf want to wear it.
Mas, Australia

What a ridiculous state of affairs. Even the Queen wears a headscarf when she wants to. What will happen next? Will women be unable to wear trousers to work? Or will people with tattoos not be allowed on public transport? Let people wear what they want to wear. I can't understand why it should be a problem.
Sandie, UK

 I am far more concerned about the damaging influence of radical feminists than I am about a woman wearing a headscarf

Christian Harris, USA  
I feel that the state should have no power whatsoever in dictating to individuals what they can or can't wear. We are talking about a headscarf which is worn as a personal choice. If what they say is true, that men are forcing women to wear the headscarves, then is it really the role of the state to intervene in family affairs over such an issue? Do we really want "big brother" coming into our homes telling us what we can or can't do based upon some perceived influence? I'm far more concerned about the damaging influence of radical feminists than I am about a woman wearing a headscarf.
Christian Harris, USA

I can't believe that, after so much debate about the scarf issue in the media and in everyday life, there are still some people who feel that women wearing scarf are oppressed! Nobody forces women to wear the scarf, on the contrary Women choose to wear it! I am educated, work in a well known legal publishing company in the City and I wear a scarf and I don't feel oppressed.
Sukeina, London

 The scarf is pushing a piece of iconography on those who wish not to see it

Sandra, USA  
The difference between a scarf and a necklace is that the necklace can be hidden. The scarf on the other hand is pushing a piece of iconography on those who wish not to see it, therefore the scarf is an advertisement for Islam.
Sandra, USA

The choice to wear or not to wear a headscarf depends on the person concerned. Feminism is about empowering women to exercise their rights and any law that prohibits the use of headscarves among Muslim women would be contrary to any real feminist principles.
Ananya Bhattacharya, USA

It is my right as a 'free' human to wear the scarf on my head, around my neck or wrapped over my shoulders. I wonder would someone wearing a crucifix around their neck receive the same treatment. Islamophobia runs deep, doesn't it?
Charlotte, UK

It's not about a scarf. It's about what it represents - oppression. Many women are forced to wear these by Muslim men, who themselves wear whatever they want. If Christianity did the same, all women would be forced to dress as nuns.
Paul King, Belgium

To Mr. Paul King from Belgium: How did you come to the conclusion that the Hijab or headscarf is a symbol of oppression. I do not know why everyone is getting so uneasy about the headscarf all of a sudden. It seems like a bad case of Islamophobia to me and nothing more.
Ridah Elshahawi, USA

Thanks to Paul King of Belgium. I didn't realize that Catholic nuns (including my elementary school teachers) were also perhaps 'oppressed' and may have been 'forced' by some conniving fathers and brothers to put their headscarves on. Shouldn't we now start talking about banning use of headscarves by all nuns and liberate them out of their oppression while we are talking about liberating Muslim women who choose to put head scarves on?
Fazle Khan, USA

I do not see a difference between a teacher wearing a cross on her necklace or a scarf on her head? Is there any?
Ina, USA

Re: Headscarves: contentious cloths (bbc)
WhiteSomali
09/24/03 at 22:10:39
[slm]

[QUOTE]
I can't believe that, after so much debate about the scarf issue in the media and in everyday life, there are still some people who feel that women wearing scarf are oppressed![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]
Islamophobia runs deep, doesn't it?[/QUOTE]

[wlm]
09/24/03 at 22:11:33
WhiteSomali


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