There has been a lot of discussion lately over France’s plans to ban the burqa. What bothers me most is that many of the mouths yammering about the burqa ban don’t seem to have the women’s best interests at heart.

I would love to hear the opinions of women who have firsthand experience. Have you ever worn a burqa/veil/abaya? Are you wearing one right now? Why do you wear it? Have you been to a foreign country where wearing a burqa or something similar was in your best interest? How did it make you feel? What do you think about the ban? That’s what I feel is missing from the whole narrative. No one is asking these women how it will affect them, it’s just assumed that it will make life better, but will it?

What about women forced to wear the veils by family members? Banning the burqa is not going to enlighten these people overnight. For a woman whose family forces her to wear a burqa in public this seems unfair. Her choice is now that she wear a burqa in public to appease her family and risk being punished by her country, or she not wear the burqa and is not allowed to go out or is punished by her family. What about older women who have been under the burqa for their entire lives? It seems culturally insensitive to just rip it away from them and say “Ladies! You’re free! Come get your tube tops!”

I don’t think women should be forced to wear one and I don’t think they should be forcibly liberated. Instead of worrying about WHAT women are wearing we focus on WHY they‘re wearing burqas. Maybe we can do more to educate people about women’s rights. Maybe we work harder to educate women so that they have the autonomy to decide what’s right for them. Why not make it illegal to force a woman to wear a burqa? That way she can decide for herself. If women are being made to wear/do or not wear/do something through the decisions of men, then maybe we need to get some checks on the men who are doing the forcing (whether through religion or legislation) and not the women who will be deprived of their control either way.