burkini bans<\/a>. You get my point that banning the veil (whether burkas or the hijab) can keep women out of public spaces, and that that\u2019s a bad thing. But you\u2019re still uncomfortable. When you see a woman wearing a niqab\u00a0you assume that her male relatives must be forcing her to dress that way. You want to help her, but you don\u2019t know what you can do. If banning clothing you feel is restrictive and oppressive isn\u2019t the answer, what is? What can you do to help these women?<\/p>\nI should start out by making it clear that you cannot tell from looking at a veiled woman whether she is veiling through her own free choice or because her\u00a0male relatives are forcing her to. There are feminist Muslim women who wear the hijab and lead independent, fulfilling lives. Can a woman be an empowered feminist and wear a burka? I really have no idea, but I do<\/em> know that we have no business policing women\u2019s clothing choices either way. The point I\u2019m trying to make is this: When you see a Muslim woman wearing the veil\u2014whether it\u2019s a hijab or a burka, or something in between\u2014try not to assume there is coercion involved, because there honest-to-god may not be.<\/p>\nOkay, you say, fair enough. But isn\u2019t there, sometimes, especially in conservative immigrant communities? What do we do about women who are<\/em> forced to\u00a0veil, or coerced into it? How do we help them? I\u2019ll tell you how we don\u2019t<\/em> help them: by banning the veil in public. If a woman\u2019s\u00a0partner is forcing her\u00a0to veil and veiling is banned in public, what are the odds that her\u00a0partner will let her go in public without the veil, as opposed\u00a0to\u00a0ordering her not to go out in public?<\/em>\u00a0Limiting women\u2019s choices by dictating their clothing style does not help them<\/em>. And it doesn\u2019t matter if those imposing the limits have good intentions.<\/p>\nWhat does<\/em>\u00a0help? Increasing<\/em> women\u2019s options!\u00a0Making\u00a0sure that women and girls who wear the veil are comfortable attending school will help increase their educational attainment. Ensuring that workplaces are friendly to women who wear the veil will help these women become wage earners and advance in their careers. Clearly, both of these things rest on making sure that women who wear the veil are comfortable going out in public to begin with, whether it be to a store, to a movie, to a community event, or to a local government meeting.<\/p>\nIf women have financial independence and are comfortable existing in the greater community that surrounds them\u2014if they are secure in their ability to make their own way and aware of their rights\u2014they will gain confidence in their personal lives and be better placed\u00a0to stand up against an abusive partner or male relative. In contrast, if women are pushed out of public life by burka bans and ever-present\u00a0discrimination, if they feel feared\u00a0and unwanted by those in the greater community in which they exist, they will be more dependent on their husbands and male relatives and thus more vulnerable to coercion and abuse.<\/p>\n
In other words, if you want to ensure\u00a0that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they\u2019re coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate<\/em> women who wear the veil\u00a0and\u00a0to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Judgement of the veil benefits those who would coerce women into wearing it. Acceptance of the veil ensures that women have options and, ultimately, the ability to make their own decisions about what they wear (which, remember, may include choosing to veil).<\/p>\nI have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they’re coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. <\/p>\n
Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":30480,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[608,445],"class_list":["post-30455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-burka","tag-islam"],"yoast_head":"\n
Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2016\/10\/burka-117516_1920.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html\",\"name\":\"Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Don’t Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \\\"purity culture,\\\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.","description":"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.","og_description":"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html","og_site_name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","article_published_time":"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":576,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2016\/10\/burka-117516_1920.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Libby Anne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Libby Anne","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html","name":"Don't Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-03T12:19:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2"},"description":"If you want to ensure that women only wear the veil out of their own free choice, and not because they're coerced into doing so, you should do everything you can to accommodate women who wear the veil and to make them feel wanted and included. Rather than judging the veil, you should accept it in your school, your workplace, your community function. Click through to read more!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2016\/10\/dont-limit-immigrant-women-give-them-options.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Don’t Limit Immigrant Women. Give Them Options."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/","name":"Love, Joy, Feminism","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2","name":"Libby Anne","description":"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. College turned her world upside down, and she is today an atheist, a feminist, and a progressive. She blogs about leaving religion, her experience with the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements, the detrimental effects of the \"purity culture,\" the contradictions of conservative politics, and the importance of feminism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/author\/libby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/845"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/starecat.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/hijab-chador-niqab-burka-differences-comparison-explained.jpg\")
<\/p>\n