Would it bring better community cohesion? I’d would suggest ‘no’ to these important questions. No matter what you think of the niqab - I for one am no fan of conservative religiosity, or conservative religious symbolism, but that does not matter - backing a unilateral ban on wearing it in public spaces is not going to answer these questions. Ultimately, we must defend the right for women to freely wear what they want and when they want. That is fundamentally a British value.
[A COMMENT] The author above writes "Ultimately, we must defend the right for women to freely wear what they want and when they want".
So how come when it comes to women in Islamic countries, this statement is turned on its head. Many Islamic countries demand a dress code of all women - including non Muslim women - irrespective of their personal choice.
Bizarre that Muslims in muslim countries do all they can to enforce a dress code, but once in the West were niqab's are culturally unacceptable, argue how dress codes are intolerable. Try and tell Muslims in many muslim countries that women are free to wear what they want, and you will probably get flogged.
[ANOTHER] I would refuse to deal with a veiled woman, as I regard her attire as an obstacle to the sort of communication that is part of my cultural heritage, as someone brought up in the modern world, not 7th century Arabia or a village in the North West Frontier
[ANOTHER] The angry and entitled way Muslims demand the right to do this, that and the next thing just demonstrates we're about 5/10 years away from a serious national debate about the repatriation and resettlement of the Muslims who live here.
Islam simply isn't compatible with European ideas such as democracy and equality. Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, even the Chinese manage to live happily in this country - who are the ones who don't? [The Independent] Read more
