30 December 2012

Women shy about lifting the niqab

For Mouna, lifting the veil that covers most of her face is akin to taking off some of her clothes in public. She has been wearing it, by her own choice, for the past 20 years and she says it has become part of her.

''It is a little like feeling naked in public,'' she told Fairfax Media about having to show her face in public for identification.

''When you wear it [niqab] for a long time it becomes a part of you.''

But Mouna, like dozens of other Muslim women who attended a recent forum with the NSW Ombudsman to discuss the issue, has no problem with the legislation that requires her to lift her face covering to be identified. [The Sydney Morning Herald] Read more