| I am going to tackle this in a different direction. A personal direction.
The Aimee/Io/Others perspective is that the burqua and alike clothing is both a symbol and a real form of oppression. To be forcibly covered is to place a woman in a closed, dark, restricted place. We can all agree this is not a pleasant idea. Obviously anyone being forced into such a cage needs rescuing then counseling to remove the psychological oppression.
But I examine all of this a bit further:
Does she automatically become educated? No
Does she automatically become employed? No
Does she automatically leave an abusive relationship? No
Does she automatically become an equal in her own culture? No
What got fixed? It seems nothing got fixed.
We all want the oppression fixed but the fix has to come from within the society not from the external symbols.
The degree of women being covered could instead be used as a indicator of how free women are (probably a poor indicator but bear with me) to see how successful actual social programs are. Rather than ban the burqua how about post leaflets for support, counseling and legal advice - web addresses, telephone numbers. How about offer free education in those communities to women. How about sponsoring women's get-togethers to discuss the issues they face?
The change needs to happen from within and not without.
I guess within this argument is an assumption. Some will assume that a covered woman is a western women waiting to be freed. This comes from assuming everyone is like "me". What if some like it? What if they would feel too exposed, too sexual, could we harm them by forcefully liberating them before they are psychologically ready?
The change has to come from within not without and the French government should plant the seeds of change and see if they take root not hack at the fringes of the problem. |