By Brittany Cloud

Traveling can deeply change a person. Seeing more of the world fuels that childish curiosity you sometimes wonder if you’ve lost. It encourages learning new things. You know, it calls you out of the daily grind. If you’re lucky, it challenges you out of your comfort zone to find a new one. Even perhaps, it will throw the opportunity in your face to question whether everything in your initial comfort zone was even that great after all.

Having a special affinity for France’s language in college, I luckily obtained enough scholarship funds to participate in a summer graduate teaching program in the French elementary schools. What I did not expect, was that I’d be teaching in some of the most economically worse off areas in France. To top off the experience, most of the children wouldn’t do their homework even if I gave it, because most of the parents were Muslim and refused to learn French. That’s when I started to see a problem: the State-fueled cultural prejudice not only against Muslims, but female Muslims in particular.

This recent, infuriating article confirms many of my suspicions.

To summarize, the article outlines recent legislation proposed to partially ban Muslim women’s usage of the veil in public services. The legislative committee’s president (I should note, a committee that's been in existence to make a decision on burqas and niqabs for over a year now) Communist MP André Gerin speaks as if this legislation’s success is a non-issue. In the same breath, he states, "The full veil is the visible part of this black tide of fundamentalism." The only reason given for withholding the proposal for a full veil ban, is fear “the ban would be socially divisive and hard to enforce.”

But, Mr. Gerin, if you’ll settle for a partial ban because it’s more “politically correct,” why not also tell the French Muslims how badly you think a full ban is best, and you’re just holding back. I’d also like to know how many Muslim women were represented on your committee or interviewed by you personally over the past year. Wait, you might say, there’s not enough women around to ask, because although there are 5 to 6 million Muslims in the country, “according to police figures, no more than 2,000 women – most of them young and a quarter of them converts -- wear a face-covering veil.”

If I may press further, what’s the real issue at stake here Mr. Gerin? Is this just a cover up for State paranoia? Because a lot of other countries are doing it? Is it a fear of relinquishing power, even if ever so slowly, to the Muslims, in your government? What about pleading due respect for laïcité? And are we really helping the women live better lives or is this about your agenda against Muslims? If we must go there, why choose to ban veil usage in public places alone? Is it somehow less offensive that way?

How is a ban against women who would, all else equal, freely choose to wear the veil more beneficial than, say, the Taliban mandate in Afghanistan against women who are not wanting to wear it? Is there really a difference, or are you just flexing the power because you have it?

Most women will understand, from the time you’re a child, life is a series of unique power struggles. The power struggle between the individual and the State is no different, even in France. Women everywhere have an acute sensitivity to these struggles, and once empowered, they won’t tolerate such injustice. That is why the concept of freedom holds such value for us. To be a free and independent woman is something we were born to accomplish. It’s a deep desire, a need. Legislation such as this encroaches on a woman's fundamental right to be free and achieve independence. Not to mention, it's a strong statement against the peaceful toleration of cultural values, and a blatant breach to laïcité. If the government, especially Mr. Gerin, had an interest in furthering cultural prosperity in France, educating women and encouraging them to freely engage in thinking critically through their own personal choices, especially in what to wear, would be the priority. To the contrary, here it appears it’s not the Muslim women in need of the education.

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