A Potential Burqa Ban at the Federal Level in Switzerland

Last updated on: December 22, 2014 at 10:28 am By nicole

The optimism in my last post, at least for Switzerland, has been tempered with news coming out of Switzerland last week.

In Switzerland (where niqab is already banned in Ticino since 2013), the German-speaking newspaper SonntagsBlick recently cited a survey saying that 62% of the Swiss population would be in favor of a burqa ban. Granted, the Tribune de Geneve mentioned that the methodology of the SonntagsBlick survery was not made clear. But as usual, Muslim women and their clothing are the battlefield for what are really problems with “Islam,” problems with “foreigners” or both. First off, as has been mentioned repeatedly almost every time burqa bans come up, there really are not a lot of women in Europe who wear them (France came up with the laughable and highly exact number of 367, which, methodology aside, is absurdly low in a country with a population of almost 70 million). While at the federal level no motions have been submitted yet (and as mentioned in my last post, recent judicial and political initiatives have been pro-hijab, with the burqa not even on the radar), the SonntagBlick’s survey is timely and telling.

Switzerland, coming off of a series of anti-immigrant votes (the Masseneinwanderung and Ecopop initiatives were two recent referendums limiting the number of foreigners), the timing appears right for this kind of populist backlash. Trashing Islam and Muslims is in the news, so it really is no surprise to me that 60-plus percent of people, even if the science of the survey was messy, are in favor of a burqa ban. But let’s be real here, is the burqa really the problem? (more…)

Marilyn Monroe in a Burqa: Commentary or Cliché?

Last updated on: April 1, 2014 at 10:50 pm By syahirah

Walking home recently, I rounded the corner from my apartment and noticed a poster that was banal and startling at the same time. I had previously written about the (mis)use of images of Muslim-looking women by Dutch non-profit organisations as an attention-grabbing device, which may or may not be related to the actual work being promoted. Here was another prime example: a film festival poster showing a pair of female legs and high heels peeking out under a blue burqa, blown about above a vent à la Marilyn Monroe in the film Seven Year Itch.

burqa - movies — Movies that Matter festival poster.

Movies that Matter is a Dutch non-profit organisation that holds an annual film festival, showcasing films dealing with various human rights issues all over the world. It aims to “fuel the dialogue on human rights, influence public opinion and activate the promotion of human rights”. I couldn’t find the objectives of promoting Orientalism and fetishisation of Muslim women’s bodies anywhere in the organisation’s materials, unfortunately.

There is no explanation for the choice of image, so I can only speculate. Burqa-wearing women don’t wear anything else underneath? Muslim women like to wear heels? The burqa as a sign of women’s oppression and therefore a human rights issue? (Yawn.) (more…)

Open Letter to Daphne Bramham on Women’s Soccer… and Burqas

Last updated on: November 28, 2013 at 6:29 pm By shireen

I recently penned a letter to a Canadian journalist whose article was sent to me by a friend. For the most part, it was a fantastic piece commenting on the funding inequalities of women in sports – particularly soccer. As a player, coach and supporter of women’s soccer. I was pleased to read it. Until the last paragraph of this intelligent, well researched articles plunged into a racist, Islamophobic, ridiculous abyss lined with veils. I responded on Twitter, addressing the author directly. Daphne Bramham did not respond.

So, I wrote Ms.Bramham and copied her editor, my editor, two female members from the Canadian Soccer Association and Moya Dodd, a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.

Friday, November 22, 2013

To: Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

cc: Editor, Vancouver Sun; Canadian Soccer Association; Editor, Muslimah Media Watch; Moya Dodd

RE: Let’s make equality a legacy of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Dear Ms. Bramham,

Your article published November 21 in the Vancouver Sun was brought to my attention.

Most of your piece very succinctly summarized the issues of funding inequalities in the Canadian and American Soccer Communities. Not only did it highlight some of the financial obstacles facing girl and women’s soccer, it also suggested how to move forward. Your statistics on the percentages of females coaches and administrators point to how women must be included in the upper echelons of Canadian Soccer.

I have been playing soccer for 30 years in Canada and found myself nodding in agreement all the way through your piece. That Canada is hosting the U20’s World Cup in 2014 and then the Women’s World Cup in 2015 can be a huge push for support and solidarity for women’s soccer from fellow Canadians.

As a player, a coach and the mother of a very motivated female player, I appreciate your attempt to draw attention to the cause of gender inequality in sport.

I say that I fully supported your piece up until the last sentence: “And, maybe, we might set an example for those parts of the world where girls can’t play and women are hobbled in burkas.” (more…)

Effective Discussions on the Oppression of Women: Is the Burqa It?

Last updated on: November 23, 2013 at 12:40 pm By eren

For a few years now, I have been observing depictions of the veil, the niqab and the burqa, not only in the media but in pop culture. Muslimah Media Watch has written extensively about these depictions because they are so prevalent everywhere. Just last week, Nicole wrote about a controversial ad featuring a niqabi woman and a soldier. Similarly, as I have discussed in another post, niqabs and hijabs have made it to stardom through famous people like Lady Gaga and Madonna. We also see a tendency to use the niqab in artwork as woodturtle has explored. Yet, often these depictions do not result in any positive discussions about Muslim women’s rights.

Depictions of the niqab and hijab in artwork continues to trouble me perhaps because I have always seen museum-type art as elitist. Not everyone can afford to go to a museum, nor is everyone exposed to this “fine art”. I do not mean to undermine the importance of the fine arts at all; on the contrary, I have an artistic background myself. But I believe that along with appreciating art we should be critical of the processes that are involved in making it. In my own experience, artistic settings can be very exclusive. Not everyone is welcome and not everyone is deemed to understand (minimalist art anyone?). Likewise, not just anyone walks into the door and is received as an artist. One needs more than just talent to get into the “clique.” As an observer, the experience is quite similar, how many of us can be said to hang out with “intellectual” people who make and “understand” art?

But the political context is also important. For instance, growing up in Mexico, art was prevalent when centrist parties were in power despite other problems like corruption. The government funded cultural activities, subsidized museums (in most cases students and teachers could access for free all the time) and provided public spaces for emerging artists through a number of initiatives. However, these projects stopped being funded when conservatives came along, so many artists decided to appeal to the new government’s sensitivities and we saw a rise in commercial art.

So why am I telling you all this?

Last week my two friends and I decided to visit the Ottawa Art Gallery. The gallery is a huge building that keeps important pieces of art including Inuit art, modern art and classical fine art. If you ask me, it is by no means the best art gallery; it is a bit disorganized and the museographic work is poorly done in comparison to that of other museums. However, the best/worst moment was when we visited the Canadian Art section. Then I was faced with Colleen Wolstenholme’s burqa women…

(more…)

Pink Burqas, Gagas and Madonnas

Last updated on: August 20, 2013 at 9:57 pm By eren

It gets me every time… it makes me upset and irrationally angry. The stereotyping, the orientalist exoticism and the appropriation are only some of the things that go on when niqab, hijabs and “Muslim clothing” in general is used for profit by non-Muslim Western stars.

Today M.I.A., who was once described by Time Magazine as wearing “one of the most controversial garments of our era” while wearing a niqab, is no longer “unique.” In early July, Madonna published pictures of herself wearing a chain-niqab and with the caption “‘The Revolution of Love is on…Inshallah.” According to the British Metro, the picture is part of a broader project with photographer Steve Klein, which has yet to be revealed.

Madonna wearing a chain-niqab.- Via the Huffington Post.

Just a few days later, Lady Gaga was all over Western media sites wearing a pink burqa made out of a sheer material and leaving fans to wonder about her new “burqa song.” Lady Gaga, who had worn a niqab-like costume to Fashion Week in 2012, caused controversy once more this year.

Particularly in Lady Gaga’s case, discussions swung back and forth, some finding it less troubling than others. Some, like Myriam Fracois Cerrah, saw Gaga’s choice as a revelation of “a double standard far more concerning than the absurdity of a transparent burqa.” Others, like Callie Beusman, see it as problematic and culturally irresponsible. Some more thought of Lady Gaga as a for-profit culture jacker.

But when does it stop? And where does it lead?

(more…)

Zero Dark Thirty: A Tale of Bias and Burqas

Last updated on: February 27, 2013 at 5:00 am By Guest Contributor

This post was written by guest contributor Emaan Majed.

The scene opens on a bustling Peshawar market. The street vendors peddle ripe oranges and bananas. Decorated rickshaws bustle through busy streets as Maya, the determined female protagonist of Zero Dark Thirty, makes her way to her destination. But in contrast to actual Peshawar markets, the only Muslim women on the movie screen are two briefly seen, unnamed extras wearing sky blue Afghan chadris.

The central narrative of Zero Dark Thirty surrounds the 2011 capture of Osama Bin Laden by a Navy Seal team. In this rendering the seal team is led to OBL by Maya, portrayed by Jessica Chastain. Maya and her colleagues go through many leads, breezily torturing each suspect until he breaks. Much has been said on the graphic torture of Muslim men the movie glorifies. But what most mainstream outlets and Westerners in general have ignored is the effect this torture has on Muslim women. The devastating effect the torture, capture, and murder of Muslim men has on their wives is overlooked by the movie and by the larger American foreign policy it emulates. The American military and government are eager to wage a war on terrorism in the name of women’s rights and show kindness to little girls whose fathers are suspects. However, their brutal treatment of Muslim men threatens the families and economic situations of many of those little girls by destroying their communities. Gayatri Spivak’s famous quote “white men saving brown women from brown men” is the framework this movie operates on, but it does not seem to realize that these white men are doing brown women more harm than good. (more…)

When Laïcité Goes Wrong, or When Burqa Checks Start Getting Real

Last updated on: August 23, 2012 at 12:43 am By nicole

Since the anti-burqa law (or whatever you want to call it, I can’t anymore) was passed in France, women with “full cover” can be cited for non-compliance, and can be stopped for identity checks. We all remember the story of the polygamous butcher and his many niqab-clad wives gleefully committing welfare fraud. One of his wives was stopped while driving, and it was argued that she was pulled over, not for a traditional traffic offense, but because she was driving with a niqab on (which is why she was stopped). Last month in Marseille another lady, whose only crime up until that point was wearing niqab, was stopped for an identity check and to be cited for wearing niqab in public (an “offense” in France for which you have to pay a fine). This didn’t go down well with her and her entourage, and the story made headlines for after she bit a female police officer ; a similar incident happened recently as well in the northern city of Roubaix.

It is useful to note, as an aside, that France has a long history of abusive identity checks where people who “don’t look French” get checked by police just for existing. So people of certain skin tones or ethnicities would get randomly stopped even before it was legal to be stopped for wearing face covering. Despite being whiter than snow, I got more than my fair share of “identity checks” in hijab and the comments that went along with it, like “we don’t wear headscarves here, this is France.” So the context of these particular events is more complicated in France than it seems on paper. (more…)