Minister Kenney deserves our applause
for taking a bold stand against one of
ultra-orthodox Islam's most pernicious
symbols: The face veil. He stated that:
"Starting [yesterday], any individual
will have to show his or her face when
taking the oath of citizenship. Recently
I received complaints from members of
the Parliament, citizenship judges, and
even participants in citizenship
ceremonies to the effect that it is
difficult to ensure that the individuals
whose faces are covered are really
taking the oath.... But this is not a
simple or technical measure, far from
it, this is really a matter of pure
principle which is at the very heart of
our identity and our values with respect
to openness and equality...
Indeed newcomers to Canada must embrace
gender equality as a core Canadian
value. In recognizing the patriarchy
behind the veil, Kenny acknowledged that
women must make choices freely in an
atmosphere of equality and transparency.
The face veil must be removed, not just
to ensure the integrity of the
oath-taking ceremony, but also to affirm
the equality of the sexes. And despite
what third-wave feminists and
multiculturalists assert, the burka is
both oppressive and anti-feminist,
steeped in patriarchy and control.
It is nonetheless the muticulturalists'
love affair with the "exotic" that
prevents them from seeing the larger
picture about the burka. Their view is
obviously predicated on moral relativism
that regards all cultures--even the
horrendously patriarchal ones--as equal.
Third- wave feminists, in particular,
assert that women should be free to
define their own femininity even if it
includes donning the veil. But can a
choice be deemed feminist if one adopts
a practice that is clearly the result of
patriarchal religious edicts?
Regrettably, contemporary feminists
continue to support a woman's right to
wear the burka. According to them, women
have chosen this path of femininity for
themselves. Their choices must be
respected and any contradictions in
their stance must be accepted. To deny a
woman the right to wear the burka would
mean imposing someone else's standards
of equality and freedom.
And herein lies the fallacy. Women who
purportedly choose practices that stem
from patriarchal interpretations have in
fact not defined their femininity. Burka
adherents have most certainly taken
their cues from chauvinistic and
patriarchal religious interpretations
and embraced them without question. That
women must accept polygamy, that they
must veil before strange men, that they
must restrict themselves to domestic
roles are the result of patriarchal
conditioning, rather than women defining
these roles for themselves. Paula
Simons, a feminist columnist for the
Edmonton Journal argues that, "I will
grant Kenney this: In many countries and
communities, the niqab is indeed an
instrument and symbol of gender
oppression. Some women are forced to
wear it, or, at least, feel compelled to
do so because of social pressure, not
sincere religious conviction. In other
cases, though, women don traditional
dress freely, sometimes for reasons of
deep personal faith, sometimes to make a
political or social statement."
Simons is wrong. Women in fact cannot
make choices freely as she contends,
when control over their lives is as
invasive and pernicious as it is. Muslim
women are led to believe that they must
accept their husbands as their imams in
all matters. What Shariah law demands of
them is complete subservience. Women
must hence comply if their husbands
require them to don the veil.
Such patriarchy is contrary to Canadian
values based on gender equality.
Minister Kenney has taken a step in the
right direction by requiring veiled
women to remove their face coverings
during the oath taking ceremony. He must
now go a step further to ban the face
veil from all public spaces.
Follow Farzana Hassan on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/@FarzanaHassan1
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