BURKINI FREEDOM
Images have emerged from France that appear to show police enforcing the controversial burkini bans that have been adopted in several cities. A series of pictures show four police officers in Nice surrounding a woman who is lying on a beach wearing a head scarf and a long-sleeved garment. They either exhort her to remove some of her clothing or hand her a fine — or both. Around the group, bathers clad in string bikinis and Speedos gawk.
There are no reports on what was actually said, but these images speak for themselves. In the wake of terror attacks in France, several towns have taken it upon themselves to ban modest beachwear favoured by Muslim women under the guise of public safety.
But this move is discriminatory, counterproductive and divisive.
In contrast, Canada’s national police force has quietly evolved its dress code to be more inclusive. The RCMP will now accommodate officers’ requests to wear the hijab as part of their uniform if they seek the commissioner’s approval. This is in keeping with the force’s 1990 decision to allow Sikh officers to wear turbans. The new rules are meant to attract more Muslim women to the RCMP, improve the diversity of its staff and better reflect the makeup of Canadian society.
The difference is stark: as police in Canada reach out to Muslim women, police in France shame and marginalize them.
France’s restrictions make little sense. The burkini, which is more of a loose, full-body bathing suit than its name suggests, was designed to empower and liberate not only Muslim women but any woman uncomfortable showing a lot of skin. France’s history of dress restrictions — it outlawed hijabs in high schools in 2004 and the full face veil in 2009 — has been shown to encourage some women to don religious garb, say experts like researcher Agnes De Feo.
Worst of all, as the Australian inventor of the burkini lamented in the Guardian: “You’ve taken a product that symbolized happiness and joyfulness and fitness and turned it into a product of hatred.”
When fashion police — literally — dictate what a woman can wear, it is sexism. When authorities restrict religious garb, it is a violation of fundamental rights.
Nevertheless, some politicians can’t resist meddling in people’s wardrobes. Members of the Coalition Avenir Québec called for a burkini ban. Now they are lambasting the RCMP’s hijab policy.
But those who seek to stoke social tensions should beware. Quebecers rejected attempts to legislate against faith-based dress codes in 2014, and last fall Canadians rejected the Conservatives’ proposed niqab ban.
Most Canadians don’t want the state telling them what not to wear.