At least fifteen towns in France have banned women from wearing the Burkini, which is a full-body swimsuit that is worn by Muslim women. France’s Prime Minister, Manuel Valls has said the swimsuit is “the enslavement of women.” He recently also advocated for banning Muslim women from wearing a headscarf within Universities.
The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, also an advocate for the ban has said, “The Burkini is the uniform of extremist Islamism, not of the Muslim religion.”
As a European-Muslim woman, I don’t need men dictating how I should dress on the beach. In Saudi Arabia women are banned from driving by men. In Iran women still have to face ‘morality’ police if they don’t cover their hair. Similarly in countries such as Afghanistan, women are forced to cover their face. These directives have all come from men, dictating what is appropriate for women.
When will men stop dictating how women should dress?
When people argue against the Burkini, remember that you’re arguing against a Muslim woman who simply wants to go to the beach. The argument is against women like me, who wear a Burkini to the beach.
If we are banned from going to the beach because we choose to cover more of our bodies than others, where will we be banned next? The demonisation of Muslim people in Europe has allowed this form of rhetoric to be espoused with little consequence.
The Burkini, far from being a uniform of extremist Islamism, is in fact a symbol of liberty for women in Hijab. We have long struggled to find clothes that are compatible with going to the beach, and to have that taken away in the name of ‘liberty’ is an affront to the very notion of it.
In reality, a ban on the Burkini merely restricts the places practising Muslim women are allowed to go. This does not make them more free or liberal, but instead limits their freedom of both movement and expression. Through banning women in public places, France is merely reinforcing the rhetoric espoused by the likes of Islamic State group, arguing that the West and Islam are not compatible.
All women and men who advocate for freedom should be against this ban because it seeks to restrict practising Muslim women. You can be against the wearing of Hijab — that’s fine, but having a different set of beliefs should not justify taking the rights of other women away because their choices are not compatible with your beliefs. That’s not what freedom is about, and whenever women’s choices are restricted, their rights are violated.
Ruwayda Mustafah is a Kurdish activist and PhD student at the University of Kingston. Her research focuses on the socio-political aspects of the Kurdistan Region.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
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