lifting the veil on prejudice against french muslim women
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Lifting the veil on prejudice against French Muslim women

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Lifting the veil on prejudice against French Muslim women

French reseacher and Muslim-feminist Hanane Karimi
Paris - Arab Today

France’s Muslim women feel the sting of prejudice whether they choose to cover their heads or not – and many are beginning to speak out in a deluge of books, online postings and open letters.
Traditional feminism is failing many Muslim women, to judge from an outpouring of complaints that they suffer prejudice on as many as three fronts at once – gender, religion and national origin.
"Don’t liberate me, I’ll do that myself," sociologist Hanane Karimi, a prominent French Muslim feminist, said on Twitter.
France is home to the largest Muslim population in Europe, with people from Algerian, Moroccan and Tunisian backgrounds as well as from other former French colonies such as Senegal and Mali.
A small minority of Muslim women in France are "forced" to wear a veil, documentary filmmaker Sarah Zouak said. "That’s a reality, we mustn’t deny it."
But, she said, those who choose of their own volition to wear a veil or hijab are "lumped together" with those who are forced to, and it is assumed that they all do so at the behest of a father, husband or brother, she said.
A recent book of essays by journalists, sociologists and activists titled Voiles et Prejuges (Veils and Prejudice) accuses French society of "appropriating the voices" of Muslim women.
The hijab has become the preferred target of Islamophobes, they say, arguing that France’s strict rules on separating religion from public life encourage identity politics – even though secularism is meant to protect religious and other freedoms.
The hijab was banished from the classroom and government offices in France in 2004, but it is a common sight in the streets.
Prejudice against the garment comes from both the left and the right, causing unnecessary tensions and even fuelling radical Islam, Muslim women activists say.
Last summer, the appearance of the body-concealing burqini swimsuit on French beaches became a burning campaign issue in the run-up to this year’s presidential election.
"The right has clear racist positions but the Socialist government of the last five years was among the worst for us," said Ms Zouak, who founded an association to "give a voice to women who are the victims of racist and sexist oppression".
She recalled comments last summer by then prime minister Manuel Valls backing several rightwing mayors who tried to ban the burqini from their beaches.
Mr Valls, who stepped down in December to mount a failed bid for the Socialists’ presidential candidacy, said during the controversy that the veil was synonymous with "women’s enslavement".
Ms Zouak also pointed to a remark by women’s rights minister Laurence Rossignol who in March last year likened women who wear the hijab to "Negroes who supported slavery" in the United States.
Feminists denounced Ms Rossignol, saying she was supposed to "defend the cause of all women".
Ms Zouak went further, accusing Ms Rossignol of being a "white feminist, fighting oppression by men telling us how to dress, think etc but copying oppression against other women, thinking she has a monopoly on feminism".
Ms Rossignol later retracted the remark.
Another Muslim woman to speak out is Hanane Charrihi, who recently published a book in memory of her mother who was killed in last July’s jihadist truck attack in the southern city of Nice.
"My veil is not submission to a man but to God," Ms Charrihi said. "It’s the result of an intimate journey in faith."
"You fight for freedoms, so that a woman can wear a veil if she wants to, or a mini-skirt if that’s her choice," she said.
Sociologist Eric Fassin said it was striking that women were speaking out on the issue "after long allowing debate to rage without their voices being heard".
"We were given to understand that the women were not allowed to speak out, but in fact we contributed to this silence" by not giving them a voice, he said.
At a screening of a documentary by Ms Zouak about Moroccan women, a woman in the audience opened up and complained about "prejudice" against her.
"If I say I am Muslim, and wear a veil outside work, you automatically think I have a horrible husband. But I’d like you to meet him!"

Source : The National

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

lifting the veil on prejudice against french muslim women lifting the veil on prejudice against french muslim women

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

lifting the veil on prejudice against french muslim women lifting the veil on prejudice against french muslim women

 



GMT 21:16 2016 Monday ,27 June

Zaki Badr discusses cleaning problem in Giza

GMT 21:46 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Turkey arrests 60 businessmen for alleged Gulen ties

GMT 22:38 2017 Friday ,24 March

Abbas meets with Merkel in Berlin

GMT 09:02 2017 Monday ,27 March

Tunisian Premier Concludes Visit to Sudan

GMT 15:54 2017 Friday ,01 September

Attorney General Directs Prosecutors to inspect Prison

GMT 09:22 2017 Sunday ,31 December

HM King condoles with Afghanistan President

GMT 10:12 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Strong dollar, mild weather shrink H&M profits

GMT 17:03 2016 Saturday ,24 December

7 police killed in attacks in Afghansitan

GMT 13:51 2017 Friday ,17 March

Israel denies Syria shot down a warplane

GMT 04:08 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Carbon tax can fund clean energy transition

GMT 19:27 2016 Wednesday ,14 September

Alstom to go ahead with plans to shut down Belfort plant

GMT 01:44 2017 Friday ,15 December

Mennat-Allah underlines importance of landscapes

GMT 04:57 2017 Thursday ,14 December

Trump tells NASA to send Americans to Moon

GMT 21:43 2017 Wednesday ,11 October

Qabil discusses with Swiss delegation improving power

GMT 21:06 2017 Sunday ,17 September

OIC condemns suicide attack in Kabul

GMT 08:27 2017 Thursday ,27 April

Nokia reports another loss as networks sag

GMT 19:41 2017 Monday ,06 February

Elina Svitolina Claims Taiwan Open Title

GMT 09:39 2017 Friday ,03 February

Former Brazilian president Lula's wife dies of stroke
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday