In Your Face: Legislative Prohibitions of the Niqab

• Author: Natasha Bakht
• Pages: 115-139

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 chapter five

IN YOUR FACE: LEGISLATIVE

PROHIBITIONS OF THE NIQAB

    ban the niqab or burqa have become com-

monplace. Muslim women who cover themselves using face veils, though

relatively small in number, have managed to become front-page news in

many jurisdictions and have regularly captured the global imagination.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated in front of parliamentar-

ians that the burqa was not welcome in France. Former Canadian Prime

Minister Stephen Harper said that the niqab was “anti-women” and that

it was “oensive that someone would hide their identity;” and “[it’s] not

the way we do things here.” e former Australian prime minister stated

that he found the burqa “a fairly confronting form of attire and frankly I

wish it weren’t worn.” Running parallel to judicial decisions prohibiting

or severely limiting the niqab in courtrooms are legislative attempts to

enact laws and policies that prohibit women from wearing the niqab in

public places.

Evidence or logic appear not to be measures used when managing

issues involving women who cover their faces. Rather, one sees a predis-

position, often unstated, toward linking such modest clothing to radical

and violent interpretations of Islam, or persistence in associating the

niqab with women’s oppression. Where such explanations are implaus-

ible, a strident dislike of the niqab manifested as an aront to national

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In Your Face

values is articulated as though that is explanation enough for the curtail-

ment of rights. No further justif‌ication is required.

is chapter begins with a brief global survey of legal proscriptions of

Muslim women’s face veils, noting where national bans have been imple-

mented and where regional or partial bans are in place. Grillo and Shah

have aptly stated that the way criminalization of face veiling has moved

from country to country makes it seem like a form of political swine

f‌lu. e global circulation of niqab bans means that while this book

gives particular attention to Canada, a full contextual understanding

requires reference to what is happening internationally. e several inter-

national “occurrences” of niqab bans are both sobering and supportive of

the idea that discriminatory laws and practices in one county lend back-

ing to similar strategies in other countries. Bans of the face veil reveal a

perseverance on the part of the political elite to exclude niqab-wearing

women from narratives of national belonging despite valiant eorts by

the women themselves to insist that they belong. Part II of this chapter

closely examines Canadian attempts to prohibit face veiling through law

and policy. Federal attempts at banning the niqab are examined, fol-

lowed by an analysis of the province of Québec, where the only legis-

lation in Canada prohibiting face veils has been enacted, though it is

currently being constitutionally challenged through the courts. Finally,

in Part III, the harmful political, social, and economic consequences of

niqab bans are examined, with a focus on the detrimental eects of such

exclusionary laws and practices on niqab-wearing women’s capacity to

enact belonging.

PART I: INTERNATIONAL PROHIBITIONS OF THE NIQAB

National Bans of Face Coverings

France was the f‌irst country to criminalize face-veiling in all public spaces.

A French member of the Conseil d’Etat stated that “Islam frightens, and

this law [banning the niqab] is an expression of that fright.” Although

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe, conf‌licts with this

community have increased dramatically. In , France banned female

students from wearing headscarves in public schools using the doctrine

of laïcité, or secularism, which, grounded in the principles of French