a lot of women in Europe, India and West Asia have found their cultural identity in the folds of this robe-like garment. They choose to wear it because it gives them a sense of comfort and religious belonging. They are not forced and simply choose to dress this way.
Let me draw an analogy here to a garment accepted by more people as a necessity in women’s toilette – the bra. Germaine Greer and other feminists burned bras several decades ago, in defiance of patriarchal ideas of female beauty. They saw the bra as oppressive – a garment created to objectify women and turn them into sex objects in the imagination of men. A lot of women (the majority) still choose to wear a bra. Many of them are feminists. They too stand against patriarchy but might choose to do so in a bra. They don’t see it as a patriarchal instrument but only as a means to support their breasts. Sure, there are still ridiculously stuffed, padded bras around and a lot of women around the world are subjected to ridicule and judged by size of their breasts. Inflatable and padded bras are marketed to these women with the convoluted objective of making them look like they have big busts too. But then, would we ban the bra? I don’t think so.
Further, there’s the stereotyping – women in conservative clothes must be powerless, docile and submissive while those in modern, non-traditional clothing must be outgoing, risqué and rebellious. Consider this – the French president sees the “modern”, fashionably dressed woman as the positive image, as he connects this with progress, freedom and empowerment. Hence, he chooses to speak of banning the burqa, as he sees it as the very anti-thesis of his country’s values. In Sudan, docility, modesty and traditional clothing are considered valuable. Hence their opposite – trousers, in this case – is seen as harmful to the fabric of society. In both cases, the woman’s choice in the matter is discounted, disappearing in the assumptions made about her image as “empowered” or “decent”.
Sofie Ashraf, a young musician who raps while wearing a burqa is the perfect example why these stereotypes often do not apply. She is bold, performs with a band onstage, raps about why she loves Islam, and is anything but docile. She says in one of her songs, “Gimme back my faith/ Don’t hijack my faith / Don’t hate me for an idiot’s mistake.” That somehow seems to sum it up. Sofie herself likens her choice of wearing the burqa to a groupie’s wearing a band t-shirt. “We love Islam, so we wear burqa.” she says, and adds that it comes with a responsibility.
What is also ignored is the fact that the real problem where the burqa is concerned is the sexual, physical and emotional violence perpetrated against women who make the choice not to wear the burqa, as well as the fact that a large number of women are forced into the veil. Rather than banning the garment itself, what governments should be focussing on is nabbing the abusers, molesters and thugs, who would deprive women of their freedom to choose.
Women who choose to wear the burqa are choosing to belong – not to feel alienated.