They’ve been called a lot of things: from a threat to public security to the vanguard of the Islamic takeover of the “free West”. That’s a lot to put on a piece of cloth. There are less than 200 women in the Netherlands who wear the burqa. They come from different corners of Dutch Muslim society, and are the butt of an extraordinary mix of accusations, insults and proposed bans.
The Dutch far-right Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders wants the burqa banned from educational institutions, public buildings and even the streets, and he’s proposed a “tax” for those who want to wear them.
All the problems associated with immigration and integration in Europe - the disparity of income and education between Western Europe’s Muslim migrants and their indigenous counterparts, the issues of divisions of language and culture – in short, far weightier matters than that flimsy piece of cloth, are nevertheless, being translated into a simplistic debate on whether the thing should be banned.
Politicians, especially from the far right, have successfully used the issue to boost up their vote banks in France, Belgium and The Netherlands and women’s and human rights groups have pitched their tents in opposition camps. And strangely both sides claim that they are on the right side of the freedom issue.
But oddly the one voice that seems to be missing from the debate is that of the women themselves, who live in Europe and despite the intense debate - or perhaps because of it - choose to take on the burqa.
South Asia Wired seeks to redress the balance and features 25 year old, Dutch born Shaista Khan whose own Pakistani parents were opposed to the decision she took seven years ago to wear the burqa. It’s a decision she’s stuck to, though it means that she can’t study, doesn’t work and needs her sister as a bodyguard every time she steps out of the house.
On SAW you can hear why she’s so determined to stay firm and of the unlikely friendship Shaista struck up with RNW reporter Hermione Gee, renown for her daring fashion sense favouring short skirts and fishnet tights.
