Women arrested for wearing burqas in France... what do you think?

Would parents here be happy with a teacher in a burqa teaching their children?
Would your children find it difficult to learn if they can't see the teacher's face?
My TA is male, as are several of my colleagues, so I'd not uncover in class presumably. And not uncover to talk to fathers.

I think it restricts women from all kinds oif work. You can cover your head and no one will give you a second glance. You can work in all professions. You can live a full life.

Cover your face and how the hell do you work? Or is that not an option for women who cover their faces? DO you think they go out with friends in the evening with their faces coivered? Perhaps go for coffee and cake? How do you socialise with women outside your religion or culture (or husband's family?) I truly do not know.

'can they ban tracksuits worn when not doing sports please? It offends me. And is not very french and chic.'

I doubt it, because they don't cover the face. They don't ban the long robes that some Muslim men wear, even though they are not part of our culture. It is the covering of the face that they are against. They feel it is important enough for social reasons to make a law about it.

Years ago, in the 1970's it was rare to see a woman with even her head covered in Cairo. Now it is the norm for head and sometimes the full burka thing. I don't know why this has changed in such a short time if this was a choice.

If the iman from the local mosque saw us around in the community on a school activity, he would hit any girls he saw without head coverings with a bamboo cane. When warned by the police, he reverted to taking mental note and beating them at mosque school instead.
Police warned him again, but no one would give evidence.

It is not a choice.

It is perfectly reasonable for a civilised Western country to prescribe uncivilised behaviours - which include covering the face in public.

Good response AyeRobot.
I worked in an area which was 98% Muslim. Some women wore saris and salwar kemeez and dupatas. Some wore niqabs. Some, usually the very newly-arrived wore burqas or full veiling in pastel shaded that obscured the form and face.
Some did it by choice, because they actively wanted to wear an expression of their culture and faith.
Some wore it because they would be beaten by the males of their household if they did not.
Hard to tell who is being oppressed and who is able to make a choice.

garlicbutter, the fact that France practices (or used to) cultural exception and regulates its culture with legislation does not mean that it is not a multicultural country.

Within it, particularly in large cities such as Paris, there exists more than one culture who live in relative harmony.

The legislation can try and undo this multiculturalism, but this does not mean that it does not exist.

I have splinters in my arse.

whne muslim men are wearing burquas or niqabs, I might feel ok about it. But as a feminst and a humanist I think it's wrong. Basically it is claiming that this woman is a man's property and therefore no other man may look at her. It implies that men are so weak, so lustful that the sight of a woman's face may make them uncontrollable. It fetishes women's bodies.

As to banning it - I really don't know. I'm watching this with interest.

Some posters seem unclear about the difference between a multicultural society, such as ours, and France's uniculture. French culture is protected by law. They have teams of experts, inclusing philosophers, constantly debating which changes to the language and other aspects of French life should be accepted into the culture. Fitting in is a legal requirement.

I found some aspects of this oppressive when I lived there - though not half as oppressive as Switzerland - however, I think its effects on the whole are good. Recently I've been hoping the UK would take something of the French approach. Not entirely, because I like the English laissez faire (funny that we use a French expression for it!), but I feel a bit of cultural regulation might help to smooth a few gritty edges in English communities.

"Bet the shoplifting numbers will go down."

Oh. Is that where we are? I was enjoying this thread

Good point, claig- just because the laws are democratic doesn't mean that they are not oppressive.

It's a security risk for one thing - and it doesn't do a lot for integration when no one can bloody well see you.

Ban it.

The women weren't arrested for wearing burqas, they were briefly detained because they didn't have a permit to protest in front of Notre Dame, or wherever it was.

I think it's great that they were arrested. It's a shame this country won't follow suit.

Bet the shoplifting numbers will go down.

It says a lot about how ridiculous this country's laws are - hoodies were banned in some shopping centres - but not burkhas.

I don't think people are allowed to wear balaclavas on demonstrations such as the student one.

I think it is counterproductive. People will wear them to make a political point.

Ban the balaclava