Strip Off!

31 May 2015 ... Yes! There is no mention of Burqa in the Quran but there is mention of dressing modestly. And some Muslim women find complete modesty in wearing Burqa, it is to please Allah. This also rids them of stressing over looking good when going outside as well as focus on other aspects of life such as education

Not easy is it. Personally I would ban the burka in the workplace and schools too- but allow any other kind of head covering. In France, girls are not allowed to wear any kind of scarf- even a brightly coloured one- at all. And women cannot teach with any kind of head covering at all.

The hypocrisy is clear though- there are still plenty of private catholic schools run by nuns in France- about 20% of children are educated in such schools- with crucifixes all over, statues of Mary and Jesus and Saint Francis and others. These schools are very cheap- as they are heavily subsidised by the State!

Which am not sure that France 'gets'.

It's the culture of the country that decrees ( Muslim countries) how women should dress, and not the religion.Afghanistan is different to Iran for instance.I may be stating the 'bleeding obvious' here, but it's the culture surrounding women and not the religion.

Whitewave when Nicki Morgan was minister for education, she passed the buck by saying it was up to each school to decide. And that each school could reflect the local culture.

Can workplaces require their staff be appropriately dressed as the employer sees fit?

Are there state schools that allow the burka?

There's danger of an outbreak of consensus here. I don't believe it's appropriate for faces to be covered in the workplace, school or if the individual is a defendant or witness at any court hearing.
The culture in this country has placed emphasis on forming impressions of honesty, mood etc on observing body language, especially watching facial expressions. A Magistrate friend resigned after being told she could not ask women to remove facial covering. She felt that as she wouldn't take evidence from anyone wearing a balaclava for example, because of the importance of making judgements about the evidence being given by watching the witness or defendant carefully, she wasn't being unreasonable about facial covering.

The burka is associated with Islam, so is religious whether it is an actual requirement of Islam or not.

I would ban any face covering in schools and the workplace only.

So if we as a country that it is a symbol of oppression. Would you ban it, as France has done, but for different reasons. I think France is a secular state and therefore all overt display of religion is banned. It is supposed to be a private affair. However, if the Burka is not an Islamic requirement, then how can it be deemed overtly religious? My thoughts are running away with me there.

Pogs - I was agreeing with you, I don't believe the burka is something that the Muslim faith set down as the correct clothing for women who follow the faith. I also struggle to see it as anything other than a symbol of the oppression of women.

God, it must have got very smokey under there.

Wonder she didn't set fire to it too!

I once watched a Muslim woman on the next table to ours in a pavement cafe in Kuala Lumpur, get out a cigarette and light it.

She was wearing the niqab, and kept lifting it up (from the bottom) so she could take a drag. I watched, fascinated until DH told me to stop staring.

Now that was surreal.

I know that pogs which is why I qualified my statement.

Ana what's new?

Obi yes. I wonder too. Maybe they all sit and talk to each other instead.

Iam

You start your post seemingly disagreeing with my view when you say "I don't believe it is POGS" I did say I think the burka is nothing more than the imprisonment of women.

whitewave

The problem is there are women throughout the world who do not 'choose' to wear the burka/niqab, they are 'instructed/beaten' into wearing it.

I wish there were some Muslim grans too. Not convinced there are not, actually.
Would they be allowed to talk freely on here?

This is getting surreal!

What wasn't sarcasm?

Obviously!

But that wasn't sarcasm BTW

Yes that's true jing
I do see the Islamic faith as not fitting very well with Western culture, at the moment.
It will be interesting what the interaction between the two cultures results in.

I do wish we had some Muslim Grans to chat to and get their take on it. We might learn stuff.

Oh! Perhaps it was sarcasm and it was lost on me.

Oh that! I just can't believe that Irish nuns were forced to not wear their veils during the Troubles. I thought you might be able to provide some archived evidence.

Your last post to me?

Perhaps if they want to be oppressed, then the law should take the matter out of their hands. Just so that future generations don't also become oppressed against their will.

Sooner or later young muslim women living in the Western world will want to wear Western fashion.