Last year’s Burquini debate in France really caught my attention. French legislation passed last summer insists that Muslim women wear less rather than more clothing when they’re at the pool, leaving some madames and mademoiselles fighting for the right to cover up.
It struck me as interesting, when in some conservative countries the law encourages women to dress more modestly and in return, some of them fight for the right to wear less!
Le Grande Burquini Debate
France is home to 5 million Muslims, Western Europe’s largest Muslim population, yet the country is known for its disapproval of burqas or other full-body Muslim attire.
In August last year, a 35-year-old French woman who had converted to Islam complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a “burquini,” a full-body swimsuit, in the town of Emerainville, southeast of Paris.
She was quoted in MSNBC.com as telling the Le Parisien newspaper that she had bought the burquini after deciding “it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends.”
A Question of Hygiene?
The “burquini” covers the arms to the wrists and the legs to the ankle and has a hood to cover neck and hair.
French officials outlawed the woman’s use of the Islam-friendly swimsuit (they say) because of France’s unusually strict hygiene standards in pools and not to take a hostile stance on French women wanting to wear Muslim clothing. Under the policy, swimmers of any religion are expected to wear standard figure-hugging suits.
“These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers”, Daniel Guillaume, an official in charge of swimming pools for the Emerainville region, told MSNBC.com.
Equality or Segregation?
A 2004 law banning Muslim headscarves at public schools in France caused a tide of controvercy. The same legislation also banned Jewish kippahs and large Christian crosses in public classrooms.
French lawmakers recently drafted a proposal that the burqa and other full body garments be banned. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy backs the move, stating that such attire makes women prisoners.
In the meantime, the woman who donned the Burquini and got the ball rolling on le grande debate told Le Parisien she felt the ban is “segregation” and said she would protest with the help of anti-discrimination groups.
Despite the “non merci!” from the French, The Burquini is surging in popularity in other countries. It’s worn by female Muslim lifeguards on Australian beaches, in the United States and various European countries, from the Netherlands to Sweden — which ruled them legal after two women won discrimination cases in 2008.
