Education minister says students can wear hijab but are no longer allowed to use face veils
The Egyptian government has announced a ban on the wearing of the face-covering niqab in schools from the beginning of the next term on 30 September.
Education Minister Reda Hegazy made the announcement on Monday, adding that students would still have the right to choose whether to wear a headscarf, but insisted it must not cover their faces.
He also said that the child's guardian should be aware of their choice, and that it must have been made without any outside pressure.
France has banned Hijabs and Abaya robes in schools not just Niqabs. Egypt is preventing people from hiding their face in school, France is doing a lot more. I don't think it's directly comparable considering the Niqab bans at least have a safety component. Whos safer because school kids cant wear head scarfs?
Yeah, that's what I mean there's no aspect of safety there. I don't think it's less sexist to legislate that no girls or women in schools can wear them them than it is to choose to wear one though. And if we just assume it's sexist anyway, who is it hurting? It seems like over reach to use sexism as the reason to ban something that only effects the person who choses to do it. Does France ban any other sexist clothing, or just the ones muslim women wear? That may be a good insight into their decision making.
I agree in most cases. However it is an issue when it's no longer a choice.
Anecdotal, but a church/cult where I grew up and went to school, forbid women and girls to wear anything but skirts. Now a lot of them maybe preferred skirts over pants, but it was never their choice.
Gotta say I'm on the fence on this one. Women should be allowed to wear whatever the hell they want, but it is a problem when a garment is occasionally forced on only them. I have no good solution
In France I imagine it's a choice more often than not, but if its an issue when it's no longer a choice, then a blanket ban on them in school poses the exact same problem as now many women who want to, no longer can or they face legal punishment. This ban likely applies to teachers too who are clearly old enough to make their own decisions.
My initial reaction is the same as to the recent abaya ban in France. Opposition. I'll need to read more about it though, because I think the motivations and outcomes will be different.