Swiss Minister faux pas– the “oppressive” veil
| March 20, 2008 | Posted by caroline under in the news, on identity |
Why are people so quick to refer to the veil as oppressive? Why can’t the Swiss foreign minister wear a veil when attending a meeting in Iran?
Sure, she disturbed a lot of Iranian feminists…but not all women who wear the veil are ‘submissive’ or forced to wear it. I wouldn’t have thought all feminists had to be anti-Islam. I know of and have been told of a good number of women who’ve CHOSEN to wear the veil. Intelligent, educated women, women from the West and women from the East. Women who have the CHOICE have taken the veil to be representative of their identity, their morals, their religion, and their femininity.
It’s one thing that my mother was forced to wear a hijab when she visited the hospital in which she gave birth to me. My mother is not Muslim and has no attachment to its values.
Once, in Italy, my friend Amy and I were told we couldn’t enter a church (we were visiting alot of churches) because we were wearing tank tops…so I took her sweater from her bag and she waited outside. It’s a matter of respect. If the circumstances are not oppressive, then wearing a veil should not be considered so.
Swiss Social Democrat MP Liliane Maury Pasquier was quoted questioning why the foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey
wouldn’t side with the women who fight against wearing the headscarf. I don’t really get the justification behind this statement.
Ultimately, I just have to reiterate that the image of a woman in a headscarf is NOT synonymous with the image of an oppressed woman.
And I think racism is so sneaky these days, that it could very well sneak right past us and steal our cookies if we weren’t watching them closely.
Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!
Interesting article, adding it to my favourites!
Good post, adding it to my bookmarks!
I agree with what others have wrote, your writing some great articles, keep it up!
Your writing style is quite a good role model for me – I have recently started my own blog and I am really struggling to write articles!