Politics and sports and women. Again we have the intermingling of the powerful men in a world sports organization with women athletes and politics. Last week, in an Olympic qualifying round in Amman, Jordan, FIFA (the world soccer governing body) officials refused to allow the Iranian national women’s team to compete in a match with [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Race/Ethnicity, Religion, Sports | Tagged: Burqa, FIFA, Football, Iran, Soccer | 5 Comments »
This is a photo of a class at a girls’ school in Qaysar in the northern region of Afghanistan. For those of you who think that wearing a burqa is a woman’s choice rather than cultural and religious oppression, just ask yourself if you would like to be like these Afghan girls. But, actually, these [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, Education, International | Tagged: Education, Taliban | 4 Comments »
An update to my post yesterday about the vote in the French Parliament to ban burqas: The French lower house today passed the bill by a 335 to 1 margin. (335 to 1???) The bill must still be approved by the French Senate, which is expected to vote in the week of September 20.
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Law, Religion | Tagged: Burka, Burqa, France, Sarkozy | Leave a Comment »
The day has finally come. It has been more than a year since French President Sarkozy first proposed a ban on wearing burqas in public places. Tomorrow, the French Parliament will vote on the proposal. After some initial wavering, I came to my position on the proposed ban last July and have not changed my [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Law, Religion | Tagged: Burka, Burqa, France, Sarkozy | 5 Comments »
This blog has had a number of articles about burqas. In particular, we have debated whether the ongoing wave in Europe to ban the burqa is justified. But here’s an interesting twist for those women who choose (or are coerced by their family or culture) to wear a burqa. Since 2007, an online store in [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils | Tagged: Burqa | Leave a Comment »
I saw this photo on MSNBC. The caption was: Afghan women learn how to make a doll at an April 15 workshop in Kandahar sponsored by a Malaysian nongovernmental organization called Mercy. Some 80 women participate in every workshop despite rising tensions in the city between the Taliban and NATO troops.
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, Religion | Tagged: Afghanistan, Burqa and Other Veils | 1 Comment »
Would you really want to be in a car where the driver is wearing a niqab (a full face veil with an open slit for the eyes)? Doesn’t it seem reasonable that the driver’s sight would be restricted? Well, last month, a French police officer gave a ticket to woman who was wearing a niqab, [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Religion | Tagged: Burqa and Other Veils, France, Niqab, Sarkozy, Veils | 10 Comments »
Last week, I wrote about the Abu Dhabi TV show Million’s Poet, in which Hissa Helal (or Hilal) had made it to the final round of the program by delivering a poem against Muslim preachers “who sit in the position of power” but are “frightening” people with their fatwas, or religious edicts, and “preying like [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International | Tagged: Burqa and Other Veils, Hissa Helal, Hissal, Million's Poet, Poetry | Leave a Comment »
A Saudi woman is receiving a lot of publicity for using poetry to attack radical Muslim clerics. (See this article in Gender Across Borders from last week.) In 2006, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage started a television show along the lines of “American Idol.” However, rather than have singing, the show (called [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International | Tagged: Hissa Helal, Hissa Hilal, Million's Poet, Poetry | 1 Comment »
I have written multiple times on the French move to ban the wearing of the burqa. (For instance, see this and this and this.) The final decision has not yet been made. The Guardian has yes-no opinions by Mona Eltahawy, an “Egyptian-born columnist and lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues,” and Stephanie Street, a “British [...]
Filed under: Burqa and Other Veils, International, Religion | Tagged: Burqa and Other Veils, France, Mona Eltahawy, Sarkozy, Stephanie Street | 1 Comment »
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