Burqa and the rights of Muslim women

On Oct. 8, we have a Teacher workshop on Muslims. I learned many things about Islam and Muslims. Among them, I got more interested in Burka. So I will talk about Burka and the controversial issues on that in this post.

Burqa means an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic religion to cover their bodies in public places. Usually, people who don’t know the name call it just a veil. There are several kinds of veil that Muslim women wear and they are called as other names depending on the level of body exposure. Burqa is the kind of veil that covers the most part of body among them.

It became as a symbol of repression to women because of Taliban in Afghanistan. They forced women to wear Burqa as one of their extreme policies. Still now, in many Islamic countries, Women are reinforced to wear Burqa by husbands and government. They have to live behind the veil. They cannot make friends on their communities because the purpose of Burqa is to hide women from people. Only her family who are presented by her husband can see her own appearance. Yes. Burqa means the subordination to men for Muslim women. The biggest problem is they cannot choose to wear this Burqa or other clothes.

So, do you think we have to get rid of Burqa because of it is a bad thing? Many non-Muslim has that kind of opinions, especially in Europe. Many countries in Europe want to take it over from Muslim women because they are afraid of Muslims who live in their own territories. It makes even the word ‘Islamophobia’.

Last year, France banned Burqa. They had many ridiculous reasons such as the violation of rights to equality. They said women who wear Burqa violated the rights to equality because they could see other’s face but hid their face. It doesn’t make sense. It’s like if I am naked, you have to be naked because it is fair to do so. Even ban on Burqa is the contradiction itself. People blame forcing Muslim women to wear Burqa. The prohibition of Burqa also compels them not to wear Burqa.

I think their movement against Burqa is not to protect Muslim women’s right but to oppress Muslims by using the symbol of their religion. In reality, Muslim women have protested against Government who prohibit their own garment.

 "This is an attack on my freedom of conscience, my freedom of religion, my freedom simply of being a woman, so this is a really big attack on my own life”.

This is said by one female of protesters. Burqa can be suppression to Muslim women but at the same time, it can be the most valuable thing to them.