That's a pretty large assumption on your part. There are an incredible amount of immigrants from the sub-continent who've assimilated extremely well. Sometimes people from the same regions as others hold cultural views that are much more out of step with a liberal western democracy in comparison to their neighbours.
I wouldn't say it's a large assumption. Obviously some people from different cultures do assimilate, that doesn't mean that it's a huge assumption to guess that someone from a similar background will, in general, have an easier go of it. It also doesn't take away from what I'm asking in regards to refugees and displaced peoples.
I don't view displaced persons as applying under my comment in being more selective with immigration. Legitimate refugees and displaced persons are likely handled differently and probably should be.
I honestly don't understand the argument why someone would be prohibited from wearing a niqab during the swearing in ceremony. Is it for security reasons? That just doesn't make sense to me. Is it because our society considers the niqab unacceptable? If so, then why do we allow people to wear them in other situations?
I guess in my opinion is biased. In my opinion, if you're coming from a country where completely concealed women is the norm, our culture is better than your culture. Sorry if offend!
She does, yes. But her choices are also framed by the society which she grew up in, which has its own way of defining femininity and the role of women.
There are Muslim women who choose to wear a niqab, even from a feminist perspective as illustrated. And their choices are also framed by their culture.
I see a lot of white men decrying how shameful it is that Muslim women are forced to cover up, it's so sexist, etc. And yes, some of these women are oppressed. But it's worth asking a Muslim woman who wears a niqab for her opinion, rather than seeing everything through western eyes. Telling a woman what she can and can't wear is also oppressive, even if you disagree with the choice.
Absolutely it's a cultural framework. The same cultural framework that has morality police go around beating the women that don't wear them.
Would the women who choose to wear them still choose to wear them without the oppressive religious pressure to do so? I doubt it. It's their "choice" in the context of extreme external forces guiding that to be "the choice".
Again.... ask some women wearing niqabs. We're in Canada and they should have freedom of choice. You can presume what you like about those choices, but they are theirs.
I don't often fully agree with Rex Murphy, but I do on this, mostly. His evaluation of the whole thing the other day was pretty on point. Surely some kind of compromise should prevail here - either we could be okay with the occasional woman wearing a niqab taking the oath, or the woman could offer to remove it just for the ceremony, or the oath for her could be accommodated in another room with a female witness with the veil removed. It's Canada. We can do compromise.
And you know - there are more important things for us to be dealing with besides "othering" an entire group of new Canadians.
I'll also take this opportunity to note the RICH IRONY of a prime minister who cut many important women's programs decrying the niqab as coming from an "anti-woman culture."
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^I find the implied equivalency there in pretty poor taste; it's basically Godwin-ing him.
I'm curious about the explanation as to how wearing a niqab can be a feminist statement? It's lost on me.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Sure. It prevents you from being objectified. It allows you to represent your true self, and not be judged on your appearance.
But again, I'm paraphrasing from what I've heard from Muslim women. You'd have to actually ask a Muslim woman why she sees it as freeing personally, but many certainly do.
That makes some sense. I'm not sure why (as a feminist) you'd use what is legitimately a symbol of female oppression to accomplish that goal, though, when any face covering would serve the purpose. Irony, I guess. Still, that's a reasonable response I think.
I dunno, I'm sort of torn on this issue.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
^I find the implied equivalency there in pretty poor taste; it's basically Godwin-ing him.
I'm not implying any equivalency in effect. I'm simply saying he's not proven himself to be an advocate for women in Canada, so it's ironic he's bring in women's rights here.
Really most of the anti-female head/body covering sentiment stems from anti-Muslim/Arabic culture sentiment. Most Western males aren't against it in principle; they are against it because it is another symbol of a culture they see as a threat, and more ammo for "our ways are better, your ways are awful", regardless of whether that is true of not.
There is a pretty big Venn overlap of those who post "BOMB ALL THE RAGHEADS" macros on Facebook, and those who post "FEMINISTS WANT ALL MEN MURDERED" macros.
Okay, I believe you when you say you weren't trying to but wording is important when you're on a subject like this and it could easily be read to mean "the Niqab is a symbol of an anti-woman culture and Harper is also promoting such a culture through his policies."
Just... yeah. No.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Really most of the anti-female head/body covering sentiment stems from anti-Muslim/Arabic culture sentiment.
Given how women are treated in those cultures and this is precisely a women's issue is the sentiment not defensible? It's not the easiest topic to navigate.
Anyway I tend to use Ayyan Hirsi Ali as a bit of a barometer on many of these issues, so I'll just post this.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
