Food for thought: The Burqa

As I catch up on my 2009 magazine reading, I find a great article in November’s Chronogram, an arts, culture and spirit magazine focusing on the Hudson Valley.

http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2009/12/News+%26+Politics/Banning-the-Burqa

Written by senior editor Lorna Tychostup, it is an interview with gender and development expert Lina Abirafeh (her book, Gender and International Aid in Afghanistan: The Politics and Effects of Intervention, came out in 2009), where they discuss international aid to Afghanistan, how it affects the relationships between men and women today in Afghanistan and the day-to-day realities for Afghan women.

Once again, I am reminded how important it is to put oneself in other’s shoes, and honor and respect those who come from different cultures. So often, Westerners with good intentions have different perspectives from those they are trying to aid. Ms. Abirafeh discusses how it is difficult for Western women to actually understand the struggles Afghan women experience as they do not experience the same ‘constrictions, fears and constraints’. A great quote: “It is impossible to seperate feminist movements from the context in which they exist. After all, they are born out of the issues that arise within that specific context.” Doing our best to learn and understand the context is imperative to success.

This article has, once again, made me ponder the burqa and all the discussions I’ve had with various people about women’s right to wear it, about what it represents, to us and to others, about the symbol it has become to some of women’s oppression. Ms. Abirafeh gave me more food for thought by sharing an excerpt from a report she wrote in 2002:

“My sense is that Afghan women long for choice-the choice to wear a veil, or a burqa, or nothing at all. The issue extends well beyond the actual fabric of the burqa. It is more important to address the psychological burqa, and its progeny-the fear burqa and the poverty burqa. Social evolution is a slow process, and our task in this is to offer women the tools with which they can achieve self-sufficiency, a choice, and a voice.”

Self-sufficiency, a choice and a voice.

Yes.

Written by Kristen van Ginhoven, Co-Artistic Director of WAM Theatre. www.kristenvanginhoven.com

Leave a Comment