Manal Alafrangi
Arab news source
The subject of women's role in world religion is an interesting but delicate one, and it should always be handled with commonsense and sensibility. It requires background knowledge and utmost understanding. It also entails personal experience or at least first-hand familiarity with whatever religion is being discussed.
To the dismay of many, Cherie Blair who is the wife of former British prime minister, Tony Blair, did just the opposite of that. In a high profile speech given at Chatham House in London on Wednesday night, Cherie's comments on the niqab or the full veil over a woman's face, made headlines, namely because of their ill-conceived nature.
Cherie argued that the niqab can be a barrier to integration - referring to the female Muslim population in Britain. Furthermore, she said, "If you get to the stage when a woman can't express her personality and you can't see her face then you have to ask if that is acknowledging a woman's right to be a person in her own right."
First of all, in order to speak about the Muslim veil and the niqab, Cherie needed to have had the necessary qualifications, which she doesn't. Instead, she comes across as insensitive, unenlightened and careless.
How does Cherie know that women wearing the niqab are denied the right to being their own persons? This sort of senseless generalisation never translates well beyond the immediate audience and Cherie should have known better.
After all, she has dedicated much of her career as a barrister to the field of human rights and has long campaigned for women's equality. Her profession and her experience should have taught her to stick to points of law instead of judgment.
Not to mention the fact that her husband was Britain's number one politician for a whole decade.
In fact, Cherie's comments come at a crucial time when her husband is the Quartet's Middle East peace envoy. His challenging task of trying to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can do without his wife's incautious comments on Muslim women and the veil.
Islam says Muslim women should dress modestly. That is, women's attire should not be form fitting or sheer so as to attract undue attention.
In a way, "Islamic dress" is one of many rights granted to Muslim women. Modest clothing is worn in obedience to God and contrary to popular Western beliefs, it has absolutely nothing to do with submissiveness to men. If anything, Muslim men and women have the same rights and obligations and they equally submit to God.
Has Cherie sat down with women wearing face veils and heard their views? Has she heard their stories? Has she asked them as she claimed whether or not they could fully exercise equal rights when their faces are covered in public?
While the face veil is not compulsory for Muslim women, it remains a personal expression of religion. Just as freedom of expression should be exercised by all, so too should freedom of outwear - amongst other things.
Having said that, Blair was right in criticising human rights advocates in the West who suggested that women's emancipation cannot be exported to the Middle East or parts of Asia and Africa because of so-called cultural and religious sensitivities. Indeed, women's rights are a "universal ethic" that transcend boundaries and cultures.
She also acknowledged that Britain and other Western nations had more to do to deliver equal pay and career opportunities to women.
But, alas, in making the sweeping statement on the face veil, Cherie's speech overshadowed what was largely a well-considered speech.
She applied the same logic to both, human rights and her claim that women who wear the face veil can't express their personalities. But the fact is they are two very different topics. Her personal judgment should remain personal.
Cherie should have known better because personal choice is a right which is fiercely upheld in the UK.
The fact remains that Cherie cannot speak on behalf of a people and of a society that she is not part of.
*Published in the UAE's GULF NEWS on November 02, 2007. Manal Alafrangi is a Staff Writer.
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