It would be great to live in a world where women could wear exactly what they want to wear, without the slightest pressure. But this is not the world we live in. —Luis Granados, “Saving Aqsa Parvez”, The Humanist, September-October 2010, p. 21
Put aside, for a moment, the idea of religion. Forget, for just a second, that the word ‘religion’ means anything. And now ask, is it OK for a man to force a woman to spend her whole life in a black cloth bag?
How could that ever be OK?
The burqa question is not about a woman’s right to wear the burqa, but about her right not to wear it. No one in their right mind would don such a “garment” more than once. You wear the burqa because if you don’t, your husband will beat you. It’s as simple as that. The purpose of legislation “banning the burqa” is to protect women from this kind of abuse.
The French legislators who seek to repudiate the wearing of the veil or the burqa … are often described as seeking to impose a “ban.” To the contrary, they are attempting to lift a ban: a ban on the right of women to choose their own dress, a ban on the right of women to disagree with male and clerical authority, and a ban on the right of all citizens to look one another in the face. The proposed law is in the best traditions of the French republic, which declares all citizens equal before the law and—no less important—equal in the face of one another. —Christopher Hitchens
YASHWATA 
Of course her wearing it does not hurt others. But it was not her decision, it was her husband’s decision. She is doing it because otherwise, she will be punished, and no one will help her. No one will even know.
The proposed laws impose a token fine on the woman wearing the burqa, and a severe penalty on the man who forces her to do it. This is because the point of the law is not to “ban the burqa” but to prevent abuse.
No one chooses the burqa of her own free will. Do we seen it in non-Muslim areas, because some people simply enjoy it? No. Do we see Muslim men wearing it, because they know how much Muslim women are enjoying it? No. No one enjoys it. They wear it because they have to. Someone is forcing them, and that’s what has to stop.
> That’s temporary. They’ll get used to it.
I have problem with your paternalistic view of the government’s role here. People have the right to decide what they want to do, what they want to wear, etc., as long as they are not hurting others. I don’t see how a woman wearing burqa (if it’s her decision to do so and not her husband’s) hurts others.
> In fact, abuse is already illegal. But Islamists routinely claim exemption from the rule of law, on the basis of their “sincerely held beliefs.” This claim is illegitimate in every possible way. Abuse is abuse. Let’s admit no excuse.
Please spare me the soundbites. My comment had nothing to do with what you’re talking about here. Abuse is abuse, and it is illegal. That’s why a ban on burqa is nothing but a veiled form of racism/islamophobia.
That means we have to break the cycle somehow.
That’s temporary. They’ll get used to it.
Education would be good, but often the men in charge prevent its introduction. The solution is to make their abusive treatment of women illegal.
In fact, abuse is already illegal. But Islamists routinely claim exemption from the rule of law, on the basis of their “sincerely held beliefs.” This claim is illegitimate in every possible way. Abuse is abuse. Let’s admit no excuse.
> You wear the burqa because if you don’t, your husband will beat you. It’s as simple as that.
Having grown up in an Islamic society, I find this very simplistic. Women in traditional societies often internalize misogynistic cultural/religious values to the point that they abide by the rules not out of fear, but because they feel better this way. If you take away the option to wear Hijab, many women feel unhappy and try not to appear in public places. The solution is to educate, not to ban.