Empowerment, not punishment

As many readers have pointed out, it was misleading to imply that Faiza Silmi was not granted French citizenship solely on the account of her wearing the niqab. In an article published by Le Monde, Silmi recognised that she had adopted the niqab after her arrival in France from Morocco, at the request of her husband. This is surely enough to raise eyebrows, even though she claimed to wear it 8220;more by habit than by conviction8221;. So what stops her from taking it off, except perhaps the influence of the men surrounding her? Other details were also conveniently omitted: Silmi appeared to live secluded from French society, not knowing the first thing about secularism and the state and, more worryingly, the right to vote. The refusal to accept Silmi as a citizen is not just a reaction to her religious clothing, but a republican concern to ensure that all French citizens adhere to the principles of laiuml;citeacute;.

Denying Faiza Silmi citizenship amounts to penalising this woman, who didn8217;t deserve such a harsh judgment. If Faiza is acting according to her own free will by choosing to wear the niqab, the French state becomes a patronising entity punishing her for holding her beliefs. But if officials were right to be suspicious of a strong patriarchal system working to eradicate her agency, why would she be punished? In this context, wouldn8217;t she be a victim, stripped of vital knowledge and basic rights, as opposed to a perpetrator of anti-republican acts?

No one can deny that French secularism works better on paper than it does when applied by government officials dealing with religious or ethnic minorities. An oppressive patriarchal system is not unique to immigrant populations and yet a white female immigrant, no matter how ignorant of her own rights, would probably not have to face such humiliating scrutiny when applying for citizenship. As utterly flawed as it is, the French immigration system is faced with a hard task in having to judge a woman8217;s chance of integration. Their decision is almost impossible, and they are stuck between paternalism and intolerance when confronted with a major issue faced by many immigrant women: a lack of awareness of their own rights.

Excerpted from a comment by Jessica Reed in 8216;The Guardian8217;