To ask how many times you have seen anyone wearing a niqab (full face veil revealing eyes) or burqa (full face veil with mesh cover for eyes)?

[Jane379]

I've seen recent talk on UK Reddit about banning them, and I think we should, for several reasons, but I also think in some ways banning is easy but actually integrating people leading a very conservative Muslim lifestyle is much harder, and should be the main discussion.
European countries that have banned found not many women wore them. What about here? Some estimates say 1%-2% of Muslim women, but we don't really know.

I live in S London in an area with quite a few Muslims and have only seen about 10 niqab wearers in my life. Most in more central areas. I've never seen anyone wearing a burqa.

How typical is this?

Dozens of times but I used to work in Beckton, Docklands, and now I work for a company with a branch in Rotherham. Occasionally now in my rural market town as well.

I agree that integrating communities is the hard part when some parts of their religion actively discourages it.

I see women wearing the niqab or burqa most days. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest and I completely support the right of any woman to cover as much of herself as she wishes.

niqab often
burqa I have seen women wearing all black with a mesh covering their eyes but not often and only around Knightsbridge/Marble Arch and Oxford Street

Does such conservative forms of Islam have a place in progressive societies I think is a discussion that should be had and where this influence comes from, and also there is the question of freedom to choose. But these discussions will attract racist comments so impossible to have

Lots in south London. I don't personally like it any more than I like youths wearing balaclavas but it isn't always at the behest of a man. It is quite often a choice by the woman. I've known some women who dress more conservatively than their family as part of their rebellion against them or as part of their own personal religious journey.

I think we have more than enough men telling women what they're allowed to wear.

Daily in a small town in the north of England.

Yes to Oxford Street - the Marble Arch end.

I don't think I've ever seen a burka, but I saw three women wearing the niqab in Oldham on the weekend in the space of about 5 minutes. I think that's quite shocking actually and more than I've ever seen previously.
I think this is a bad thing for women in our society as a whole, I really don't like it.

@mumofoneAloneandwell the irony of your comment !

There was one person wearing the full garb around where I live but I've seen more ladies in a rich river town wearing where I believe there are some very wealthy residents from arab countries

Then around some wealthier area of londkn.

Oh yes and In a cafe in selfriges

Every day. SW London.

I used to know a woman who wore a burqa and she had a great Mancunian voice, even though I never saw her face. 😀

I've never seen one. I live in a very white undiversified coastal area.

Many when I lived in an Arab state. Several when I lived in Manchester.

I absolutely hate the niqab but I don't know how I feel about banning it. It would set a precedent. The only thing I worry about is men using it to control women by forcing them to not be seen by other men.

I might have seen one once. But the area I live in is not particularly diverse. There are a fair few Muslims here but none of the women seem to wear the full coverings.

YABU. I live/work in Northern England and see dozens every time I go into the various town/city centres, even in the smaller towns/cities, not just Leeds, Manchester, etc.

I’ve seen a good few niquabs but never a burqa. I live in Glasgow and used to live in a predominantly Muslim area. Not so many since we moved (that’s not why we moved!)

It is quite often a choice by the woman

I think that this is a point which is often glossed over.

If the women who wear the burqa or niqab were pleading for help in banning it, that would be one thing. But that isn't the case.

I couldn't count the number of times I've seen it any more than I could someone wearing a baseball cap or turban or Jewish identifying hats. Sorry idk the name of them.

But yeah, loads. I live near areas that have a high Muslim population.

I've worked with one woman who wore the niqab and she was lovely.

I used to say this but having reflected on it a lot lately I don't agree with the 'it's a choice' argument anymore.
Its not a choice made in a vacuum, if there was not a religion being preached by men, telling women to wear this, they wouldn't choose it on their own. It has been designed by men, for women, to keep women from participating in society. Women may 'choose' to wear it under the circumstances that they need to in order to live as peacefully as they are able but that's not a real choice.
Years ago women in Afghanistan did not wear the burka.

See it all the time in lancashire. I dont think its for us to ban.

See a couple ladies wearing niqabs each day. Doesn't seem safe for driving.
See loads of scarves but have never seen anyone with the eyes covered too.
Northern town

Same here. I have no doubt that I’m at fault but I find them incredibly intimidating. As a PP. said, in the same way that people on full balaclavas can be.

Multiple times a day, every day. I'm in a city in the NW.

Never.

I saw a couple in Cardiff the other day (walking together). Not very common where I live but when I lived in Berkshire there was a school mum who wore a burqa, so saw it every day. You'll see loads if you take a stroll around Shepherds Bush.