A Compromise?

I thought I should write about this subject since it came up on Saturday. I think we can justify it by saying it's Social Commentary on Sunday.

I get the Globe and Mail six days a week and the following headline appeared on the front page: "Lift face veils or don't vote, Quebec tells Muslims." I read the article and had several conflicting thoughts about what went on. Until recently I did not know the purpose of any coverings (whether it be a burqa or a niqab). I was given a great article (whose name I cannot remember, but maybe one of my readers could post the name or a link to it online) in a class of mine explaining the reasons (mainly so that woman are judged on what they say and do and not by how they look - it was described as an empowering thing to wear) why women cover themselves up.

After some thought I came to the following conclusion: Why can't they (all the people in Quebec) just compromise. In summary, this is what the two arguments are (at least the rational people in this debate):

1. The Chief Electoral Officer is trying to avoid voter fraud. Due to what seems like many angry responses, there is a fear that the original agreement would be used to the advantage of some people in protest of the decision.
2. The women who are wearing the veils are doing so for a religious reason (I'm not here to debate whether they are right or wrong, but it's important to realize they have a strong belief in something), and it would violate their beliefs to provide the requested proof of identification. They are stuck with a choice between not voting or going against what they believe in.

Clearly, there are two very good arguments for either of the two proposed outcomes. I decided to do some research to see if I could make sense of it. The first thing I did was look up "niqab" on wikipedia. The entry did not tell me much, but it did send me to this article about a similar situation that occured with regards to wearing a veil for the picture on a driver's license. I discovered there that many muslim nations require muslim women to have their pictures taken without their veil.

I then wanted to find out WHO a muslim woman is "allowed" to uncover herself for (I use the word allow because I'm under the impression that it is different for each individual. I do not think that anyone forces muslim women into this). After much searching I found this quote which came from a much bigger web page:

A Muslimah should not uncover her adornment in front of any non-Mahrahm male. Muslimahs should especially be careful and remain covered, modest, and quiet around in-laws.

If a gay male is aware of female body parts, he should not be allowed to view a woman uncovered. And, of course, a bi-sexual male should not be allowed to view a woman without proper covering.

In addition, a Muslimah should not uncover that which she normally uncovers, in front of any non-Muslim female whom she fears may describe her to others. She may also choose to remain covered around any Muslim female whom she fears may describe her physical attributes to their husband or others.

I also looked up who qualifies as Mahrahm and non-Mahrahm males and found the answers here.

So where am I going with this?

My proposed compromise is for the Chief Electoral Officer to provide a way for women to prove their identiy which does not require them to show themselves to people they do not want to show themselves to. Perhaps arrangements could be made in each riding so that a trusted muslim woman was available to check ID's for the people running the election. One representative for each riding would probably be sufficient if it were advertised which polling station this representaive would be at. To me it is common sense, but perhaps this is just a small part of a larger problem...

I wonder if this message will find it's way to Quebec.

I bet someone has something to say about this... let's hear what you think! I may be wrong about everything and I'm open to other viewpoints (keep it nice though).

For more information, check out this blog which talks briefly about the same article and situation: http://hogtownfront.blogspot.com/