The new French law that prohibits the wearing of the burqa or niqab in all public places came into effect on 11 April 2011. France is the first country in Europe to enforce such a ban – one that will have a direct effect on thousands of women in a country where 10 per cent of the population is Muslim.
The law itself is couched in secular terms as a general ban on all face coverings such as helmets and hoods in public places like parks, shops, streets and train stations. But for many people, the real target is the Muslim face veil.
A fine of €150 – and a mandatory course on citizenship – is the penalty for any women who wear the burqa or niqab in public, while anyone forcing a woman to cover her face could receive a one-year jail sentence and a €30,000 fine.
President Nicolas Sarkozy maintained that the law is one that defends the right of the woman against a form of enslavement that goes against the values of the French republic – liberty, equality and fraternity. He said that France is “an old nation united around a certain idea of personal dignity, particularly women’s dignity, and of life together. It’s the fruit of centuries of effort.”
Despite the president’s assurances, the law is widely viewed as stigmatising the Muslim community in France. However the French Council of the Muslim Faith has supported it, saying the face veil represented “an extremist, literalist reading of the Qur’an, not a religious obligation.”
The controversy doesn’t end there. Many on the left and socialists see the new law as a tool to attract supporters away from the increasingly popular far-right (and anti-Islam) Front National ahead of next year’s presidential election. But it has a much wider appeal that transcends the left-right divide.
According to a recent Ipsos poll, 74 per cent of French people are in favor of the burqa ban. The people of France, on the whole, see the veil more as an attack on female rights than as an expression of religion. It’s necessary to understand that the law is viewed as the latest step in a long process in favor of women’s rights that began after the Second World War. French society today is one at least nominally based on the equity between men and women.
The law against the burqa, therefore, can be seen as the natural continuity of the equality movement in a context where the question of national identity is strong.
Romain Redoutey is an intern with Metro Éireann.
