The Burkha Ban Debate

I find it very very refreshing and rewarding that even on an arch conservative website like this there are many voices of reason which are reasonably opposing this silly ban proposed by Sarkozy.

The fact is, in the whole of France, the number of women who wear this garment is a piddling 100 or so, according to one French Arab feminist writing in the Guardian. So if the number of women affected by the ban, or for that matter, no ban, is so small, it follows that the law would in effect be irrelevant to the large majority of French women - Arab or non Arab.

Even worse, this superfluous burkha debate serves a very insidous purpose by deflecting attention away from the far more pressing concerns faced by French minority women - racism, prejudice, xenophobia, as well as rampant discrimination in virtually every section of French society - from the workplace to employment, housing to politics.

If Mr Sarkozy wants to improve the lot of French Muslim women, he could do worse that to sit down with them and listen to their collective concerns and try formulating his policies towards them on the basis of what he hears from them. At this time however, many could be forgiven for wondering whether Mr Sarkozy is genuinely interested in helping France's Muslim women, or simply manipulating the ( non ) issue of the burkha as a means of appealing to xenophobic voters.

SAS of AL 4:36PM July 06, 2009