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The visibility of women and their freedoms in the French public sphere is envisaged in this article on the basis of laïcité and gender equality. Within the debate about the rights and limitations of Muslim women, French feminist ideology seems to be torn between two totally contradictory positions. Anti-veil and anti-burqa laws are on the one hand defended in the name of laïcité and the emancipation of women. On the other hand, the laws are severely criticized because they marginalize Muslim women from the majority of French society. The main aim of this research is to analyze anti-veil and anti-burqa laws in France by focusing on their historical and social foundations from a feminist perspective. Next, this study argues that the visibility of Muslim women in the French public space, which is banned in the name of republican and laic values, is actually valued by some feminist groups who cast an exclusionary and othering glance at the clothing of Muslim women, such as the headscarf or the burqa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the successful campaign to have the burqa and niqab banned from public use in France, and the continuing advocacy to have these garments banned in other Western liberal societies, I examine whether the two strongest challenges to the burqa and niqab succeed in justifying a ban on these forms of veil. Although I argue that they both fail in supporting a ban, the fact that some Muslim women may be coerced into full veiling gives liberal states a moral duty to interfere. In the light of this, I propose a comprehensive approach, which is better suited to ensure that the necessary conditions are in place for Muslim women to be the authors of their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dislike among European publics for the Islamic full veil and the desire to ban it are often ascribed to nativist "Islamophobia." This article questions that assumption. It argues that, in political terms, the wearing of the burqa and niqab is inconsistent with Western norms of equality, the backbone of the citizenship ideal; and that, in social terms, the full veil erects a partition to interpersonal understanding and reciprocity. While the constitutional duty to protect religious freedom is a good argument in favor of tolerating the full veil, the practice of wearing it is at the edge of solidarity and injurious to the democratic public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the controversies related to the wearing of Muslim religious garment, burqa which is considered as a form of discrimination of women and the need of banning it for promoting women's dignity and gender equality. The challenges including freedom of religion, violation of human rights and individual liberty is considered with reference to French law. The principle of secularism, impact on minority community and the role of European Convention on Human Rights are discussed.

In this article the author discusses the banning in France of the burqa, a covering garment worn by Muslim women. It is noted that about two thousand women in France wear the burqa which the author states makes for a small constituency. The author argues in favor of the ban. A number of topics are addressed including the significant suspicion of religion in France, the opinions of Tariq Ramadan, a Muslim intellectual, and the passage of the French prohibition on wearing the Muslim headscarf in school.

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The author addresses the announcement by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in the summer of 2009 about the ban of burqa in France. The author points out that France is not the first European country where the face-veil has become a topic of parliamentary debate, citing the experience of the Netherlands in December 2005. However, the author argues that the shift from religious symbol to sign of women's subjugation is hypocritical.

The article presents a response to an essay on the censorship of clothing by Muslim girls and women. All terms used in the essay like hijabs, khimars, and burqas are already historically, culturally, and politically marked. A discursive approach would require careful consideration of the histories of performative force that discursive acts carry. The author suggests that education ought to foster the critical questioning of assumptions base on external appearances, and of imperialist and ethnocentric readings of discourse and pay attention to the ways in which language carries past meanings and uses that trouble its apparent clarity and that produce meaning beyond the intention.

The article discusses the medical aspects of burqa, a type of clothing which covers face of women. It states that the burqa offers protection against the sun and can act as good physical sunscreen. Moreover, it notes that face cover is considered as protection against infectious diseases such as influenza and leprosy. However, it highlights some disadvantages of burqa such as pigmentation on the face caused by constant friction by the rim of the burqa.

The author opposes the announcement by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in the summer of 2009 about the ban of burqa in France. The author argues that the statement revives the debate on men's control of women's bodies from the cultural perspectives of Muslims. Further, the author refutes the claim of Sarkozy that the burqa is not only a religious object, but a sign of women's subjugation.

The editors consider the response to an announcement by French President Nicholas Sarkozy in the summer of 2009 about the ban of burqa in France. Sarkozy reportedly argued that the burqa is not only a religious symbol, but also a sign of subjugation. The editors claim that the controversy raises themes about how identity can be connected to clothing, and material objects in general. Further, they contend that the wearing, as well as the banning, of the burqa or veil raises issues surrounding the cultural manifestations of global religious traditions.