287
Egypt bans niqab in schools (www.middleeasteye.net)
submitted 1 year ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The Egyptian government has announced a ban on the wearing of the face-covering niqab in schools from the beginning of the next term on 30 September.

Education Minister Reda Hegazy made the announcement on Monday, adding that students would still have the right to choose whether to wear a headscarf, but insisted it must not cover their faces.

He also said that the child's guardian should be aware of their choice, and that it must have been made without any outside pressure.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Aatube@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

Problem is while other hijabs might be voluntary I don’t think anyone voluntarily wears a niqab

[-] snek@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I agree that this aspect of it makes this issue very complicated. I wore a hijab aged 12 (out of choice, but really it was religious indoctrination) and took it off at 17. Almost every other Hijabi and Niqabi I know doesn't really want to wear it or wishes it was not part of their lives or a religious obligation. A large number of said women eventually took it off. And of course a handful wanted to wear it and enjoy the look of modesty.

However, how does banning the Niqab help any of these women? 😬

One argument my partner made while discussing this is that it could help some women forced to wear it to be able to take it off... But I doubt that is the situation in Egypt given the culture, traditions, and law.

[-] ashar@infosec.pub 5 points 1 year ago

I know several women who wear the niqab by choice, and in the face (pun not intended) of social pressure.

[-] Tedesche@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

That completely misses the point. The issue is that women should be allowed to wear whatever they want, same as men do. Banning a garment, even when no woman elects to wear it, serves no purpose except to restrict women's choices.

[-] waterplants@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

not trying to shit stir, but can men really wear balaclavas anywhere they want?

[-] Tedesche@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

I've seen plenty of delivery people wearing them during the colder months in my city. Since they aren't worn for religious reasons, I suspect most men don't wear them indoors, but I'm unaware of any law that prohibits them from doing so. Sure, maybe there are some high-security places where you wouldn't be allowed to wear anything that covers your face, but that applies equally to men and women.

[-] sonovebitch@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago
[-] Tedesche@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure what your point is, as the bans in question were clearly sprung from concerns about Islamic face coverings in particular. They may have used generalized language in the laws to mask that focus, but it's clearly there. Am I missing something here?

this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
287 points (99.3% liked)

World News

38563 readers
2446 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS