Connotations of ‘modesty’ bring to mind the picture of a burqa-clad woman. Extremists’ claims that the gown ‘liberates’ a woman realistically only serve to make her vanish from 21st century public life. This is an unconscionable situation. In the debate surrounding the veil for Muslim women, defenders of modesty culture and dress argue in the name of religious freedom, women’s empowerment and a matter of choice.
Conversely, critics consider it an encroachment on women’s rights to be free. However, these arguments do not shed sufficient light on what modesty means in terms of a dress code for Muslim women. This phenomenon – the erasure from the discussion of the veil’s intrinsic relationship to religious ideals of female modesty – only further highlights the extent to which patriarchal narratives, both pro and against veiling, continue to infringe the rights of women at the deepest levels.
Opponents of extremism consider banning the burqa, niqab or hijab essential to countering growing fundamentalism among Muslims. Banning these garments, it is argued, is also essential to assimilating Muslims to shared democratic values among all citizens. It is additionally considered important to identify an individual in public places.
The crucial point that is being neglected here is an analysis of the malevolent concept of modesty for women, which throws Muslim women into oppressive waters where shark-like clerics are the sole judge of how women are supposed to conduct themselves. [Conatus News] Read more
