.... in all societies a balance has to be struck between religious freedoms or personal freedoms, and the necessity to have common laws and values on such issues as gender equality.
It seems to me that the total covering of the face is such an extreme expression of religion (especially when one considers the religious justification for requiring women to wear the niqab) that the balance ought to be struck in favour of the idea of equality between men and women, and in favour of an institution simply trying to have a practical rule on face covering and a law that applies equally to everyone.
There is an added inherent contradiction in Muslim groups campaigning for the freedom to wear what they want to, and in the attempt to co-opt the language of human rights, women’s rights and the right of a woman to wear whatever she wants, when Islam itself does not give its adherents that freedom to do so: it is requirement for a woman to dress in a certain way, to wear the hijab or the niqab depending on their interpretation. [Lawyers' Secular Society, 16 September] Read more
