Ban The Burqua? Part 1

Friendly faces

After laughing my way through a new documentary “Dumb, Drunk andRacist” on what Indians really think about Australians (a topic for another day), I had to think.

Who really cares about the burqua, besides that slightly confused middle aged gentleman driving his “Ban The Burqua” van?

In just one week I have seen several hours of Australian TV dedicated to the issue of the burqua, including Channel 7’s “Sunday Night” current affairs program. I don’t know how they found these women. Muslims make up four per cent of Australians, and anyone wearing the burqua is far less than half of all women - in other words, well under one per cent of Australians.

I personally do not give a toss if someone wants to wear nothing at all, or a tablecloth on their head. Certain times in your life you feel vulnerable. When I was a teenager I was covered in acne scars so I wore a tea towel over my head. Or before major facial recontruction surgery, you might want to cover up.

Who cares, does the face really matter so much? The answer no, not if you don’t want to show it.

The burqua is not a security issue. If you need to show your face like everyone else to police or border control, show your face. This means removing your glasses, hoodie, helmet, scarves or balaclavas. If you don’t want to, don’t leave your house.

The only instance I could see myself caring about a burqua would be if I sent my child to school and her teacher wore a full face cover - I would wonder at my daughter’s language development given that forward facing prams and the poor Mr McLaren are being blamed for a plunge in language skills internationally! 

I do think kids of women who cover their face would suffer language impediments, although to be fair they see their mum at home uncovered so they must actually think, what is wrong with my mum's face that she covers it in public? I wonder really what their kids think. They probably don’t give it a passing thought, as long as dinner's on the table, the Nintendo console is loaded up and someone’s tucking them into bed.

There are clearly workplace policies and certain occupations that require a definite clear stance on the burqua. This is what the law defines as a “genuine occupational requirement”. I would suggest burquas are impractical for occupations where the face needs to be seen and where a huge cloth and lack of peripheral vision might cause a safety issues, such as teachers and some medical positions and trades.

To Be continued...