my choice
Last week I flipped through the chapters of “The God Delusion”, a Richard Dawkins book. Most arguments were familiar and I decided not to pick up yet another book to add to my reading list which already magnifies exponentially. Yet, I payed extra attention to the last chapter hoping to get the very general summary of the book’s drift and there I found a very interesting analogy. Dawkins compares religion restricting the viewing field of humanity, to that of a woman peering out from behind a burqa. Both are limiting, and in case of religion deprive the believer from a deeper and fully encompassing view of the world while in case of a burqa deprive the wearer from basking her limbs in the free flow of air. Perhaps because I am more sensitive to the tragedy of limiting a human mind than merely her body, I am not going to argue the first point. The topic of a burqa however, is more complex than it seems at a first glance.
To many in the western world the burqa has become a symbol of female subjugation. Understandably so, a head to toe clad female figure is a powerful image to unaccustomed observer. It is true that women in countries like Saudi Arabia or Iran are required to wear the strictest form of hijab and are discriminated against, their legal rights held in the hands of male relatives. Yet the two are not tied by default. In the majority of Muslim countries modest dress is encouraged, while the full bodied cloaking an option, undeniably reinforced by societal and or family pressures, but a choice nevertheless. What the westerners often ignore in their aversion to hijab, is that denying a woman a right to wear it in public, is an oppression equal to the one exerted by theocratic governing Muslim states which mandate it.
Religion ought not drive legislation and government should not favor any one religion in particular, but we ought to provide room for religious expression in our personal lives if such need exists. By wearing a head scarf, a hijab, or in its extreme form a burqa, a woman guided by her faith asserts in public her modesty, just as another woman by wearing tight fitting clothing chooses to emphasize her femininity. Ironically neither one is freer than her sister.
It is no secret that women in the “free” society spend significant amount of their income on apparel and cosmetic procedures in indirect and for the most part unconscious competition with each other. Competition as always, for resources. The resource being male attention for the purpose of mating and companionship. It used to be a matter of survival or at least of bettering the quality of life for her and her offspring. It has become a luxury since women become providers in addition to being mothers and care takers, one that nevertheless is not trivial to renounce.
The story of a young girl, Cennet Doganay trapped in the clash between two cultures, and her dramatic response to the 2004 french law banning conspicuous religious symbols in schools by shaving her head, is a poignant example of a secular rule perhaps taken a little too far. The French government in an attempt to better integrate the diverse cultural and religious minorities and reinforce the non religious nature of its institutions, has infringed on the personal freedoms of its citizens.
The fact that the citizens in question are minors and their liberties are otherwise fully held by their family members, is another grand topic on to itself. Yet, with the inter-cultural tensions rising in France and Britain in the last few years, it is worrisome that ignorance and xenophobia are excused in the name of secularism as in the more recent example of squabbles over muslim and christian religious symbols in Britain.
The greater picture of a woman in burqa is not the superficial outward appearance of her limited freedom, but that covering or baring her body, is ultimately her very own unadulterated choice. For biological and evolutionary reasons perpetuated into today’s societies a woman’s body has been iconicized and thus in a way made into a domain of public debate. What polemicists of all persuasions ought to remember is that tolerance for variety and furthermore, respect and celebration of our differences, is what brings about harmony and creates a stable society, and not a forced uniformity of dress or suppression of personal expression. What can unite us, despite the myriad of life choices we all make, is the universal ability to chose who we want to be, misguidedly perhaps, but freely.